rit-;   '^v.'-v  ,<.•■*'**''■    ''*' 


I 


m: 


BV  4226  ,J4 
Jeffs,  Harry,  i860 
The  art  of  sermon 
il  lustration 


THE  ART  OF  SERMON 
ILLUSTRATION 


BY 


'*     JUN  24  1910 


H. JEFFS 


EDITOR  OF  "the  CHRISTIAN   WOKLD   PULPIT 


!^^e/CAL  s£^?.>^\>' 


**  Storied  windows  richly  dight."— Milton 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming   H.  Revell   Company 


London 


AND  Edinburgh 


SECOND      EDITION. 


FOREWORD 

Every  preacher  covets  the  power  to  illustrate  his 
sermons  and  addresses.  Few  preachers  possess  it  in 
any  marked  degree.  A  fertile  illustrator,  like  the 
poet  and  the  painter,  is  born,  not  made.  None  the  less, 
it  is  possible  to  cultivate  the  art;  and  the  purpose  of  this 
book  is  to  assist  those  who  realise  the  necessity  of  being 
interesting,  and  are  not  destitute  of  imagination,  to 
develop  what  gift  they  have.  There  are  pitfalls  in  the 
way  of  the  sermon  and  address  illustrator,  and  the 
preacher  and  speaker  will  be  put  on  their  guard  against 
them.  The  author  has  gone  to  the  Bible  as  a  store- 
house of  illustrations  by  inspired  writers  who  possessed 
the  art  in  perfection.  Most  of  all  he  would  send 
preachers  to  the  Gospels,  to  Him  who  "  spake  as 
never  man  spake,"  and  "  without  a  parable  spake  He 
not  unto  them,"  for  matchless  examples  of  the  illustra- 
tion of  spiritual  truth.      None  realised  as   the   Master 

realised  how 

"  Truth  embodied  in  a  tale 
Shall  enter  in  at  lowly  doors." 

It  has  been  a  protracted  but  pleasant  labour  to  search 
for  illustrations  in  the  sermons  of  preachers  of  the  past 
and  present,  and  the  harvest  has  richly  repaid  the 
labour.  It  is  hoped  that  preachers  will  learn  much 
of  the  art  of  illustration  from  the  examples,  many  of 

5 


Foreword 

which  have  been  grouped  in  the  chapters,  still  leaving 
a  large  residue  for  the  Appendix  of  Illustrations.  To 
each  illustration  a  text  has  been  appended,  and  an 
Index  of  Texts  is  supplied.  The  author  has  ventured 
to  include  original  illustrations,  from  sermons  and 
addresses  he  has  delivered.  He  is  indebted  to  preachers 
and  literary  friends  for  the  gift  of  other  original  illustra- 
tions that  enrich  the  book.  Illustrated  outlines  and 
addresses  to  children  are  included  to  show  how  illustra- 
tions arise  out  of  the  subject,  and  serve  the  double 
purpose  of  lighting  up  a  point  and  investing  the 
subject  with  colour  and  dramatic  interest. 

The  Sunday  morning  address  to  children  is  in  increas- 
ing demand,  but  there  are  few  who  really  succeed  in 
capturing  the  attention  of  the  eager-minded  and  keen- 
witted modern  child.  The  author  expresses  his  thanks, 
and  the  thanks  of  his  readers,  to  the  masters  of  the  art 
who  have  favoured  him  with  suggestions  and  presented 
him  with  model  addresses,  from  which  the  preacher, 
who  finds  the  children  "  do  not  listen  "  when  he  talks 
to  them,  will  learn  much.  The  bouquet  of  "  Flowers 
from  Old  English  Gardens  "  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  relished 
for  the  quaintness  of  the  illustrations  from  imagina- 
tive preachers  and  writers  of  the  Golden  Age  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 


CONTENTS 


CRAPTEH  rAOB 

5 


Foreword      ....•- 

I.  "Truth  Embodied  in  a  Tale"  , 

II.  General  Principles  of  Illustration 

III.  Bible  Methods  of  Illustration        . 

IV.  The  Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 

V.  The  Preacher  among  the  Poets        • 

VI.  Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

VII.  Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men  . 

VIII.  Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

Appendix  I.     Illustrated  Sermon  Outlines 

I.  A  Basket  of  Fruit.  2.  **  He  Wrote  on 
THE  Ground."  3.  The  Multitude  and  the 
Man.  4.  The  People's  "  Amen,  Amen  ! ' 
5.  The  Fire  in  the  Bones.  6.  Heavenly 
Thrift.  7.  The  Saviours  of  the  City.  8.  No 
more  Sea. 

7 


9 
19 

44 

55 
68 

8z 

103 

121 

141 


Contents 

PACK 

Appendix      II.         Illustrated      Addresses      to 

Children 167 

I.  Carrying  a  Cross,  by  Rev.  E.  W, 
Lewis,  M.A.,  B.D.  2.  The  Magic  Pen, 
BY  Rev.  E.  W.  Lewis,  M.A.,  B.D.  3.  The 
Young  Heart  for  Jesus,  by  Rev.  W.  Kings- 
cote  Greenland.  4.  Concerning  a  Toad, 
by  Rev.  J.  G.  Stevenson.  5.  The  Rose  and 
the  Express  Worm,  by  Rev.  J.  G.  Stevenson. 

6.  "  As  in  a  Mirror,"  by  Basil  Mathews,  B.A, 

7.  Ye  Must  be  Born  Again,  by  Basil 
Mathews,  B.A.  8.  The  Right  Way  and 
THE  Wrong  Ways,  by  H.  Jeffs. 

Appendix  III.     Illustrations    from    Genesis    to 

Revelation 185 

Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects  Illustrated  ,        .    249 

Index  of  Illustrations  ....  •    257 


8 


THE    ART    OF    SERMON 
ILLUSTRATION 

CHAPTER  I 

"  TRUTH    EMBODIED   IN   A   TALE  " 

**  Please  tell  me  a  story,"  says  the  child;  and  "the 
child  is  father  to  the  man."  It  is  a  common  remark  of 
preachers  that  nobody  listens  more  eagerly  to  the 
children's  address,  with  its  anecdotes,  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing than  the  grown-up  people.  Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton 
said  that  when  a  grey-bearded  gentleman  goes  into  a 
book-shop  just  before  Christmas  and  says  he  wants  to 
see  the  fairy-books,  as  he  desires  to  buy  some  for  his 
nephews  and  nieces,  he  is  really  intending  to  buy  them 
for  himself.  The  books  that  are  most  circulated  from 
the  free  libraries  are  novels  ;  the  magazines  that  circulate 
the  most  are  story  magazines.  We  may  look  askance  at 
the  people  who  read  little  besides  stories,  but  their 
fondness  for  stories  is  inherited  from  their  ancestors 
hundreds  of  generations  back.  Before  Abraham  was. 
Oriental  story-tellers  amused  and  instructed  the 
peoples  of  the  East.  Centuries  before  Moses,  the 
novelette,  often  with  a  "moral,"  was  the  popular 
reading  of  the  Egyptians.  Homer  and  the  rhapsodists 
told  their  stories  of  the  war  of  Troy  to  the   soldiers 

9 


f) 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

round  the  camp  fires  and  to  the  grouped  peoples  of  the 
villages  and  towns  of  Hellas.  Plato,  the  supreme 
teacher  and  preacher  of  Greece,  charmed  his  age, 
and  every  following  age  has  been  charmed,  by  his 
stories  "  with  a  moral."  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  tales 
of  chivalry  were  listened  to  by  barons  bold  and  bright- 
eyed  ladies  in  castle  halls,  and  the  "  common  people  " 
had  their  legends  of  the  saints  and  their  boisterous  tales 
that  often  conveyed  shrewd  wisdom  in  homely  language 
and  with  rough  humour.  We  live  now  in  the  age  of 
science,  of  machinery,  of  education,  of  philosophy,  the 
age  of  "  the  march  of  the  men  of  mind,"  and  yet  people 
are  fonder  of  stories  than  ever.  They  seek  escape  in 
stories  from  the  dull  grey  monotony  of  the  routine  of 
toilsome  lives,  and  the  writer  who  knows  how  to  tell 
stories  that  appeal  to  them  is  certain  of  an  exceeding 
rich  reward. 

But  what  about  the  preacher  ?  Is  he  to  put  to  no 
account  the  average  man  and  woman's  love  of  a  tale  ? 
He  wants  to  open  their  mind  and  heart  to  truths  of  the 
most  solemn  import,  on  the  reception  of  which  the 
happiness  of  their  lives  here  and  the  shaping  of  their 
destiny  depend.  How  is  he  to  make  them  listen,  to 
make  them  comprehend  "  the  mystery  of  love,"  to  make 
them  realise  that  God  is  their  Father,  that  Christ  is  the 
Life  and  the  Light  of  men,  that  they  are  all  members  of 
each  other,  that  they  are  builders  of  a  New  Jerusalem  ; 
that  as  they  are  the  heirs  of  ages  of  men  and  women 
who  have  created  for  them  a  splendid  inheritance,  so 
they  are  bound  to  add  to  the  inheritance  and  pass  it  on 
to  those  who  come  after  them,  that  so  they  may  hasten 

10 


'*  Truth  Embodied  in  a  Tale^' 

the  time  when  the  dreams  of  prophets  and  apostles,  of 
saints  and  martyrs,  of  heroes  of  the  faith  and  warrior 
knights  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  shall  be  glorious  realities  ? 

Preachers  always  need  to  remember  that  the  con- 
gregation consists  of  *'  the  common  people,"  that  is, 
average  people.  The  congregation  is  not  a  congrega- 
tion of  scholars,  of  theologians  and  philosophers,  whose 
primary  interest  in  religion  is  the  intellectual  interest. 
It  is  a  congregation  of  men  and  women  who  feel  rather 
than  reason  their  way  to  faith,  whose  interest  in  religion 
is  the  practical  interest  of  men  and  women  who  feel 
their  need  of  the  help  in  the  crises  of  life  that  only  a 
vividly  realised  supernatural  power  can  give.  That 
power  has  to  be  presented  to  them  in  concrete 
dramatic  forms  rather  than  in  the  abstract  conceptions 
of  the  intellect.  They  can  understand  the  Christ  who 
walked  the  holy  fields  of  Galilee,  who  was  a  Man  with 
men  and  yet  more  than  man,  who  "wrought  with 
human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds  "  ;  but  they  are  listless 
or  impatient  when  the  preacher — who  has  lived  more 
among  books  than  among  men,  and  is  more  interested 
in  philosophies,  ideas,  thoughts,  criticism,  questions, 
and  what  not,  than  in  people,  in  the  colour  and  drama 
and  crowded  incidents  of  human  life — is  expounding  his 
thoughts  to  them,  in  however  well-informed,  logical  and 
literary  a  way  it  may  be.  Should  such  a  preacher  treat 
the  congregation  to  an  illustration  that  has  a  human 
touch  in  it,  at  once  they  prick  their  ears,  and  the 
illustration  will  be  remembered,  with  the  point  illus- 
trated, for  years  perhaps,  whereas  the  ''thoughtful 
sermon  "  as  a  whole  will  scarcely  survive  the  following 

II 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

week.  It  is  worth  the  while  of  preachers  to  study 
the  psychology  of  the  congregation,  and  to  condescend 
to  that  psychology,  for  it  is  the  psychology  of  men  and 
women  as  God  has  made  them,  rather  than  for  them  to 
expect  the  average  people  in  the  congregation  ever  to 
be  able  to  take  the  thoughtful  preacher's  interest  in  the 
mainly  intellectual  aspects  of  religion.  Let  no  dull 
reader  imagine  that  this  is  a  plea  for  "  anecdotal 
preaching,"  the  stringing  together  of  ear-tickling  stories 
for  their  own  sake,  or  that  it  is  a  condemnation  of  the 
preacher's  intellectual  self-cultivation.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  these  days  the  preacher's  brain  needs  the  most 
intensive  cultivation,  and  the  mere  pulpit  anecdotist 
is  a  desecrator  of  the  pulpit  and  a  cheater  of  the  con- 
gregation out  of  its  most  precious  rights.  But  the 
preacher  preaches  for  results,  and  even  to  get  his 
thoughts  infixed  he  must  know  how  to  impress  them  in 
ways  that  will  commend  them  to  the  common  mind, 
and  make  a  lasting  impression  on  the  memory ;  and 
there  is  no  way  that  does  this  so  surely  as  the  way  of 
apt  and  attractive  illustration. 

In  the  "  White  City  "  there  were  English  and  French 
pavilions  devoted  to  the  "  Applied  Arts."  The  gift  of 
illustration  is  a  fine  art,  and  it  should  be  applied  to  the 
noblest  use  —  that  of  elucidating  and  adorning  the 
points  of  the  preacher's  messages.  Such  masters  of 
the  art  as  Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  and 
Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson  are  welcomed  by  crowded  con- 
gregations, and  they  find  that  the  most  intellectual 
people,  as  well  as  the  less  educated,  delight  in  their 
unforgettable   stories  and  comparisons,    by  which,    as 

12 


44 


Truth  Embodied  in  a  Tale*' 


nails    driven  well  home,  they  fix  their  lessons  in  the 
hearers'  memories. 

What  a  field  for  illustration  the  preacher  has  in  these 
days,  when  we  have  come  to  see,  as  never  before,  that 
Christ  is  the  Lord  of  all  life,  and  that  His  religion 
should  touch  and  transform  life  in  all  its  expressions ! 
The  "spiritual"  is  not  now  regarded  as  a  tiny  circle 
in  the  centre  of  a  great  sphere  of  the  "  secular "  all 
round  it.  "The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness 
thereof"  —  not  merely  "the  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills,"  and  the  fruits  and  the  flowers;  but  "the  King  of 
kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords  "  claims  to  rule  by  right 
Divine  not  only  over  the  saints  in  the  churches,  but 
in  Parliament,  in  the  county  and  borough  council  and 
the  board  of  guardians,  in  the  factory,  the  shop  and 
the  counting-house,  in  the  home,  in  literature  and  the 
theatre,  in  the  football  field  and  every  other  field. 
But  if  this  be  so — if,  in  the  words  of  the  Latin  poet, 
nothing  human  is  foreign  to  him — then  the  preacher 
may  gather  his  illustrations  from  every  field.  No  novel, 
no  play,  no  book  of  science  or  travel,  nothing  that 
happens  in  common  life,  no  process  of  art  or  industry, 
but  will  yield  its  telling  illustrations  to  the  skilful 
preacher.  If  there  is  natural  law  in  the  spiritual 
world,  there  is  spiritual  law  in  the  natural  world, 
and  the  natural  world  will  give  the  preacher  innumer- 
able concrete  illustrations  of  spiritual  truths.  Dr.  W. 
L.  Watkinson  is  particularly  happy  in  his  illustra- 
tions from  science.  The  illustrations  that  follow,  from 
Dr.  Watkinson  and  others,  will  repay  study  as  examples 
of  natural  analogies  of  spiritual  truths. 

13 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

THE    PROCESS    OF    SIN 

In  South  America  a  phosphorescent  spider  is  found  that 
attracts  and  dupes  its  prey  by  successive  flashes  of  light ;  the 
moth  is  apparently  dazed,  and  with  the  emission  of  each  gleam 
creeps  closer  to  the  transfigured  assassin.  This  is  a  parable  of  the 
process  of  sin.  By  successive  radiations  it  also  hypnotises  its 
victims  to  an  awful  doom.  The  broad  road  is  a  path  of  enchant- 
ment to  the  natural  man  even  when  he  treads  it  with  bleeding  feet ; 
but  when  the  promenade  is  gold,  broidered  with  roses  and  enhvened 
by  applause,  it  is  irresistible  except  one  is  arrested  as  Balaam  was 
(Job  xxiv.  6). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

"BROTHERED  TO  FORGIVE." 
I  have  read  that  when  a  sea-worm  perforates  the  shell  of  an 
oyster,  the  oyster  immediately  closes  the  wound  with  a  pearl. 
I  think  it  is  something  like  that  which  happens  when  God  helps 
me  to  forgive  a  man  who  has  wronged  me  to  the  very  heart.  For 
thine  own  sake,  forgive.  And  for  thy  brother's  sake,  forgive. 
"What  am  I  brothered  for.?"  says  George  Macdonald,  "if not  to 
forgive  "  (Matt,  xviii.  21, 22). — Rev.  George  Jackson. 

HOPE   TO   THE    END 

They  tell  us  that  there  is  a  mountain  in  the  swampy  districts 
of  Central  Africa  that  people  only  see  for  an  hour  or  two  in  the 
morning,  and  as  soon  as  the  mists  drawn  up  by  the  sun  rise  from 
the  swamps  round  about  it,  it  is  shrouded  in  cloud.  That  is  like  the 
hopes  of  a  great  many  Christian  people,  gleaming  out  now  and 
then,  and  then  shrouded,  and  shrouded  by  the  mist  that  comes 
up  from  the  undrained  swamps.  Hope  perfectly  (i  Pet.  i.  13).— 
Dr.  Maclaren. 

DWARF   CHRISTIANS 

One  of  the  strange  freaks  of  Japanese  horticulture  is  the  cultiva- 
tion of  dwarf  trees.  The  Japanese  grow  forest-giants  in  flower-pots. 
Some  of  these  strange  miniature  trees  are  a  century  old,  and  are 
only  two  or  three  feet  high.  The  gardener,  instead  of  trying  to  get 
them  to  grow  to  their  best,  takes  infinite  pains  to  keep  them  little. 
His  purpose  is  to  grow  dwarfs,  not  giant  trees.  From  the  time  ox 
their  planting  they  are  repressed,  starved,  crippled,  stunted.  When 
buds  appear  they  are   nipped  off.      So  the  tree  remains  only  a 

14 


44 


Truth  Embodied  in  a  Tale'' 


dwarf  all  its  life.  Some  Christian  people  seem  to  do  the  same 
thing  with  their  lives.  They  do  not  allow  themselves  to  grow. 
They  rob  themselves  of  spiritual  nourishment,  restrain  the  noble 
impulses  of  their  nature,  shut  out  of  their  hearts  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  are  only  dwarf  Christians  when  they  might  be 
strong  in  Christ  Jesus,  with  the  abundant  life  which  the  Master  wants 
all  His  followers  to  have  (2  Pet.  iii.  18). — Dr.  J.  R.  Miller. 

THE  VALUE   OF   RESTS 

"  There  is  no  music  in  a  rest,  but  there  is  the  making  of  music 
in  it."  In  our  whole  life  melody  the  music  is  broken  off  here  and 
there  by  "  rests,"  and  we  foolishly  think  we  have  come  to  the  end 
of  the  tune.  God  sends  a  time  of  forced  leisure,  sickness,  dis- 
appointed plans,  frustrated  efforts,  and  makes  a  sudden  pause  in 
the  choral  hymn  of  our  lives,  and  we  lament  that  our  voices  must 
be  silent,  and  our  part  missing  in  the  music  which  ever  goes  up  to 
the  ear  of  the  Creator.  How  does  the  musician  read  the  rest? 
See  him  beat  the  time  with  unvarying  count  and  catch  up  the 
next  note  true  and  steady,  as  if  no  breaking-place  had  come  in 
between.  Not  without  design  does  God  write  the  music  of  our 
lives.  Be  it  ours  to  learn  the  time,  and  not  be  dismayed  at  the 
** rests."  They  are  not  to  be  slurred  over,  not  to  be  omitted,  not 
to  destroy  the  melody,  not  to  change  the  key  note.  If  we  look  up, 
God  Himself  will  beat  the  time  for  us.  With  the  eye  on  Him,  we 
shall  strike  the  next  note  full  and  clear.  If  we  say  sadly  to  our- 
selves, "  There  is  no  music  in  a  rest,"  let  us  not  forget  "  there  is 
the  making  of  music  in  it."  The  making  of  music  is  often  a  slow 
and  painful  process  in  this  hfe.  How  patiently  God  works  to  teach 
us  !  How  long  He  waits  for  us  to  learn  the  lessons  (Ps.  xxxvii.  7). 
— RUSKIN. 

THE   STAIN   OF   SIN 

Pilate  thought  it  an  undertaking  simple  enough  when  "  he  took 
water  and  washed  his  hands  before  the  multitude."  Many  to-day 
count  it  easy.  Yet  the  washing  of  the  hands  is  a  sterner  task  than 
at  first  sight  appears.  Dr.  Leedham-Green,  in  his  work  on  "  The 
Sterilisation  of  the  Hands,"  proves  the  extreme  difficulty,  nay,  the 
veritable  impossibility,  of  cleansing  the  hands  from  bacteria. 
Simple  washing  with  soap  and  hot  water,  with  use  ot  sand  or 
marble    dust,   however    energetically   done,  does   not   materially 

15 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

diminish  the  number  of  microbes  ;  the  mechanical  purification  is 
practically  useless.  Turpentine,  benzolene,  xylol,  alcoholic  dis- 
infection, and  various  antiseptics  equally  failed  to  render  the 
hands  surgically  clean.  Is  not  this  unsuccessful  quest  for  physical 
purity  a  vivid  metaphor  of  the  impossibility  of  cleansing  the 
hands  from  the  stain  of  sin  and  the  heart  from  its  virus? 
(Matt,  xxvii.  24).— Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

THE   LIVING   BIBLE 

Professor  Plateau,  of  Ghent,  who  was  well  known  for  his 
remarkable  series  of  observations  and  experiments  on  the  relations 
between  insects  and  flowers,  tells  of  an  interesting  fact  in  his 
researches.  For  a  certain  purpose  he  determined  to  find  out  how 
far  insects  could  be  attracted  by  the  reflection  of  flowers  in  a 
mirror.  A  mirror  being  placed  behind  the  plant  in  flower  so  as  to 
give  a  good  reflection,  the  visitants  were  watched.  It  was  all  in 
vain  ;  the  insects  went  straight  to  the  real  flowers,  and  occupied 
themselves  on  them  without  paying  any  attention  to  the  reflection. 
Whilst  duly  appreciative  of  all  aids  to  Biblical  interpretation,  let 
them  not  divert  you  from  the  living  flowers  wet  with  dew,  rich 
with  honey,  and  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations 
(John  vi.  63). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

GOD'S  JEWELS 

A  newspaper  not  long  ago  contained  an  article  on  "The  Humble 
Gems."  It  was  directed  to  condemn  the  prevailing  fashion  of 
afTecting  rare  and  garish  jewellery,  whilst  the  more  modest  gems 
were  neglected.  The  article  proceeded  to  explain  that  numbers  ot 
jewels  hitherto  known  only  to  the  lapidary  are  yet  of  exceeding 
beauty.  "Cinnamon  stones,"  which  afford  a  perfect  series  of 
chrome  shades  from  fiery  red  to  golden  orange,  the  white  sapphire, 
the  blue  spinel,  the  whole  chromatic  gamut  of  zircons,  white  and 
pink  topazes,  and  many  other  tertiary-tinted  gems,  we  were  assured 
await  the  prevalence  of  a  purer  taste.  The  writer  proceeded  to 
say  that  in  Ceylon  there  is  a  perfect  waste  of  most  beautiiul 
material.  Part  of  a  railway  is  ballasted  with  white  crystalline 
limestone  studded  with  lovely  blue  spinels  ;  the  foundations  of  a 
bridge  were  laid  in  a  bed  containing  myriads  of  decomposed  rubies 
in  rose-red  flakes  of  singular  beauty  ;  sapphires  were  found  in  the 
broken  metal  used  to  mend  the  roads  ;  and  whole  lengths  of  rose 

16 


** Truth  Embodied  in  a  Tale** 

quartz  were  laid  in  the  ruts  to  be  ground  to  powder  by  bullock  carts. 
Just  as  there  are  heaps  of  modest  jewels  of  special  beauty  entirely 
overlooked,  and  cart-ruts  gleaming  with  disregarded  treasure,  so 
are  there  humbler  gems  of  humanity  whose  strong  pure  life  is  the 
poetry  of  city  street  and  obscure  hamlet.  These  lowly  toilers 
reveal  the  rarest  qualities  of  conscience  and  heart;  and  although 
they  do  not  captivate  the  carnal  eye  as  do  fashionable  brilliants 
and  historic  diamonds,  yet  are  they  His  jewels  who  knows  the 
exact  v^alue  of  us  all,  and  they  shall  have  their  honoured  place  in 
His  diadem  in  the  great  day  (Mai.  iii.  17). — Dr.  W.  L. 
VVatkinson. 

The  illustrations  given  should  open  the  preacher's 
eyes  to  the  use  he  can  make  of  facts  of  science,  art  and 
industry.  The  study  of  science  and  nature  books  will 
have  the  incidental  advantage  of  opening  his  eyes  to 
the  wonders  of  the  world  he  lives  in,  and  he  will 
cultivate  his  own  powers  of  observation  in  order  to 
collect  original  illustrations,  for  none  are  so  effective 
as  those  of  the  preacher's  own  finding.  The  late 
Dr.  C.  A.  Berry  was  keenly  interested  in  machinery, 
and  often  drew  illustrations  from  what  he  had  noticed 
at  a  railway  station  or  in  going  over  some  works.  He 
used  to  tell  how  once  he  went  over  a  works  and  was 
nearly  deafened  by  the  rattle  of  the  machinery.  He 
was  finally  taken  into  a  room  where  there  was  very 
little  noise,  although  poweriiil  engines  were  at  work. 
*'  This,"  he  was  told,  "  is  the  power  house,  that  keeps 
all  the  machinery  going."  The  spiritual  power  house, 
Dr.  Berry  said,  is  the  prayer  meeting  or  the  chamber 
where  the  Christian  in  secret  pours  out  his  soul  in 
prayer.  All  there  is  quiet,  a  solemn  hush,  and 
apparently  little  is  being  done  or  produced ;  but  stop 
the  engine  of  prayer,  and  all  the  machinery  will  come 

17  B 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

to  a  standstill ;  let  down  the  fires  in  the  power  house, 
and  all  the  machinery  will  slacken. 

Another  excellent  machinery  illustration,  teaching  a 
different  lesson,  is  this  by  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott : — 

OUT  OF  GEAR  WITH  GOD 

Go  into  a  factory  full  of  spindles  and  wheels  and  all  intricate 
machinery ;  all  are  connected  with  some  great  driving  wheel,  and 
when  the  band  is  connected  all  the  wheels  begin  to  revolve  and 
all  the  spindles  to  play  their  music.  Now  imagine  every  wheel 
and  spindle  with  a  will  and  purpose  of  its  own,  and  keep  the  bands 
off  and  let  every  spindle  dance  to  its  own  tune — what  product 
would  you  get  from  your  factory  ?  The  world  is  out  of  gear  with 
God,  that  is  the  trouble  ;  and  you  and  I,  if  we  are  lawless,  are  just 
in  so  far  out  of  gear  with  God,  and  nothing  can  make  our  life 
right  save  by  swinging  back  into  oneness  with  God,  to  will  what 
He  wills,  to  do  what  He  would  have  us  do  (i  John  iii.  4). — Dr. 
Lyman  Abbott. 

Such  illustrations,  to  a  congregation  that  includes 
employers  and  working  men  in  the  great  industries,  cannot 
fail  to  strike  home.  They  will  be  impressed  by  the 
essential  reasonableness  of  the  appeal  to  keep  the  power  in 
adequate  supply,  and  the  machinery,  on  the  working  of 
which  progress  and  profits  depend,  in  good  going  order, 
and  all  the  processes  of  industry  well  co-ordinated. 
An  incidental  advantage  will  be  that  their  respect 
will  be  increased  for  a  preacher  who  is  not  too 
much  absorbed  in  other-worldly  concerns  to  take  an 
interest  in  such  matters. 


18 


CHAPTER  II 

GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  ILLUSTRATION 

Illustrations  have  been  called  windows.  The 
primary  purpose  of  an  illustration,  from  which  it  takes 
its  name,  is  to  light  up  that  which  is  being  illustrated. 
Usually  something  that  is  less  familiar  and  more  remote 
from  common  experience  is  made  clearer  by  the  analogy 
of  something  that  is  more  familiar  and  within  the  range 
of  common  experience.  Spiritual  truths  require  deeper 
insight  for  perception  and  realisation  than  things  that 
make  themselves  known  to  us  through  our  physical 
senses.  After  all,  however,  our  spiritual  nature  is  as 
substantial  a  reality  as  our  physical  nature,  and  as 
Henry  Drummond  demonstrated  in  *'  Natural  Law  in  the 
Spiritual  World,"  the  methods  of  Providence  in  the 
higher  spiritual  realm  follow  much  the  same  course  as 
the  laws  of  Nature  in  the  realm  of  things  physical  and 
material.  And  in  the  Bible  there  is  continual  illustra- 
tion of  the  ways  of  God  to  man  and  the  relations  of  God 
to  His  children  from  the  experiences  of  our  common 
physical  life.  The  Fatherhood  of  God  Himself  can  only 
be  understood  by  reference  to  fatherhood  in  the  ordinary 
human  family.  Spiritual  realities  have  to  be  tested 
and  tried  in  just  the  same  way  as  we  test  and  try  things 
that  are  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  a  healthy 
physical  life.     We  are  to  "  taste  and  see  how  gracious 

19  B  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

the  Lord  is."  The  preacher  who  is  impressing  spiritual 
truths  on  the  minds  of  people  who  are  living  in  the 
material  world,  and  whose  minds  are  continually  occupied 
with  material  interests,  will  feel  himself  under  continual 
necessity  to  translate  the  spiritual  into  the  terms  of  the 
material,  and  this  means  illustration.  Without  the 
illustration  the  minds  of  many  in  the  congregation  will 
find  the  spiritual  truths  too  elusive  for  their  grasp.  If 
they  are  of  quick  intelligence,  and  are  naturally  elect 
souls,  with  keen  appetites  for  the  spiritual,  and  with  the 
inner  vision  which  pierces  through  the  material  veil  of 
the  things  seen  to  the  things  unseen  beyond,  then  the 
preacher  may  content  himself,  perhaps,  with  delivering 
his  messages  in  the  dialect  of  the  purely  spiritual, 
relying  on  the  quick  apprehension  of  his  congregation 
to  follow  him.  But  where  is  the  elect  congregation  to 
be  found  who  can  be  trusted  to  apprehend  and  com- 
prehend the  spiritual  without  the  material  analogies  ? 
The  preacher  must  always  assume  that  his  congrega- 
tion consists  of  average  people,  and  that  the  spiritual 
truth  he  has  to  communicate  needs  the  mediation  of 
material  illustration. 

The  preacher  endeavouring  to  illustrate  a  spiritual 
truth  must  take  care  that  the  illustration  is  such  as 
will  really  let  in  light  upon  the  truth,  as  would  limelight 
turned  upon  a  dimly  seen  object,  and  especially  must  he 
turn  the  light  upon  those  features  of  the  object  which 
it  is  desired  to  make  prominent.  The  parables  of  Jesus 
remain  the  matchless  models  of  the  illustration  that 
clearly  and  sharply  defines  the  object,  and  at  the  same 
time  casts  no  illusive  and  misleading  shadows.     Very 

20 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

often,  however,  illustrations  are  used  that,  instead  of 
making  the  spiritual  truth  more  definite,  really  distort 
it,  or  confuse  the  hearer  by  the  introduction  of  irrelevant 
details  that  may  distract  his  attention  from  the  essential 
point,  and  perhaps  send  him  av^^ay  with  a  false  concep- 
tion of  the  truth,  which  it  may  take  years  to  correct,  if 
it  is  ever  corrected  at  all. 

The  story  or  simile  used  for  an  illustration  should  be 
simple.  It  should  make  clear  just  what  it  is  desired  to 
make  clear  and  no  more.  It  should  be  precisely  adapted 
to  serve  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  designed.  Often, 
instead  of  a  story,  some  fact  of  Nature  or  of  science 
may  be  used  to  illustrate  a  law^  of  the  spiritual  life. 
Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson  and  Dr.  A.  Maclaren  have  made 
particularly  profitable  use  of  simple  illustrations  from 
books  of  science  and  travel.  Some  illustrations  of  this 
kind  were  given  in  the  previous  chapter.  I  add  a 
further  selection  : — 

BLIND   EYES   AND   EYES   THAT   SEE 

In  the  deep  seas  are  creatures  which  have  dwelt  so  long  in  the 
darkness  that  it  has  put  out  their  eyes.  They  had  perfect  eyes 
once,  but  these  have  atrophied  in  the  persistent  gloom  ;  the  organ 
of  vision  has  perished — only  the  socket  remains.  It  is  thus  to-day 
with  thousands  of  men  and  women,  and  these  the  most  reflective 
and  serious.  They  have  pondered  the  things  of  anguish  and  death 
until  their  eyes  have  been  quenched  in  a  gulf  of  dark  despair. 
They  no  longer  can  behold  God  ;  they  are  unable  to  recognise  the 
Divine  government ;  they  can  see  no  prospect  of  a  rational  issue  to 
a  chaotic  world.  There  has  befallen  them  the  terrible  curse  of 
spirit-blindness  ;  the  eyes  of  their  heart  are  sightless. 

There  is,  however,  another  strange  fact.  In  the  same  sunless 
deeps  are  animals  with  eyes  of  extraordinary  size.  But  the  mar- 
vellous thing  is  that  these  particular  creatures  have  in  a  high 

21 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

degree  the  power  of  manufacturing  their  own  light,  and  the 
economising  of  the  delicate  phosphorescence  has  developed  in 
them  eyes  of  remarkable  magnitude  and  power.  With  their  self- 
created  luminousness  these  abyssal  fish  withstand  the  blackness  of 
their  environment,  and  indirectly  the  darkness  has  secured  for 
them  eyes  far  more  splendid  than  those  of  their  shallow  water 
relatives.  Thus  is  it  in  the  abyss  in  which  we  live,  and  which 
proves  to  so  many  a  gulf  of  dark  despair.  There  are  thousands  ot 
noble  men  and  women  with  splendid  eyes.  They  see  God  as 
clearly  as  any  angel  in  Heaven  can  see  Him  ;  they  behold  His 
government  over  them  causing  all  things  to  work  together  for  their 
good ;  they  view  the  golden  consummation  to  which  the  universe 
tends.  The  very  darkness  that  presses  upon  them  has  taught  them 
the  secret  of  making  light  in  themselves,  and  it  has  developed 
in  them  a  power  of  vision  that  pierces  to  the  heart  of  things 
(Matt.  xiii.  13,  14). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

THE  CEASELESS   FLOW   OF   LOVE 

Niagara  stopped  once  ;  owing  to  an  ice  dam  thrown  across  the 
river  the  waters  failed,  the  rainbow  melted,  the  vast  music  was 
hushed.  But  there  has  been  no  moment  in  which  the  love  of  God 
has  failed  toward  the  rational  universe,  when  its  eternal  music  has 
been  broken,  or  the  rainbow  has  ceased  to  span  the  throne.  There 
never  will  be  such  a  moment.  The  crystal  tide  flows  richly  and 
flows  for  ever  (Jer.  xxxi.  3). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

THE   WEAPONS   ON   THE   WALL 

Brothers  !  who  is  there  amongst  us  that  has  worked  and  fought 
up  to  the  edge  of  his  capacity  ?  There  is  no  more  wasteful  instru- 
ment, they  tell  us,  than  a  steam-engine  ;  so  little  motive  power 
comes  out  for  so  much  heat  applied,  and  such  a  quantity  is  lost. 
So  it  is  with  us.  All  the  warmth  that  radiates  from  Jesus  Christ 
is  poured  into  the  icy  deadness  of  the  reservoirs  of  our  hearts,  and 
the  effect  is  only  to  raise  the  temperature  such  a  very  little,  and  to 
get  two  or  three  feeble  strokes  of  the  piston.  We  hang  our  weapons 
on  the  wall,  as  they  do  in  baronial  mansions,  for  ornament,  instead 
of  taking  them  down  for  use.  None  of  us  can  plead  "  not  guilty  " 
to  the  charge  of  neglected  opportunities  and  unused  powers,  and 
talents  hid  in  a  napkin,  and  there  are  some  of  us  to  whom  this 

22 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

charge  of  my  text  comes  with  a  very  special  weight  of  accusation 
and  condemnation.     What  a  dead  mass  of  idle  people  there  are 

in  every  Christian  congregation  and  Church  !    (Ps.  Ixxviii.  9). 

Dr.  Maclaren. 

IN    CONTACT   WITH    CHRIST 

I  have  seen  a  heavy  piece  of  solid  iron  hanging  on  another,  not 
welded,  not  linked,  not  glued  to  the  spot ;  and  yet  it  cleaved  with 
such  tenacity  as  to  bear  not  only  its  own  weight,  but  mine  too  if  I 
chose  to  seize  it  and  hang  upon  it.  A  wire  charged  with  an 
electric  current  is  in  contact  with  its  mass.  Cut  that  wire  through, 
or  remove  it  by  a  hair's  breadth,  and  the  piece  drops  dead  to  the 
ground  like  any  other  unsupported  weight.  A  stream  of  life  from 
the  Lord,  brought  into  contact  with  a  human  spirit,  keeps  the  spirit 
cleaving  to  the  Lord  so  firmly  that  no  power  on  earth  or  hell  can 
wrench  the  two  asunder.  In  that  circuit  the  feeblest  Christian  is 
held  safely;  but  if  the  circuit  be  broken,  the  dependent  spirit 
instantly  drops  off  (John  xiv.  20). — Dr.  Arnot. 

THE  UNSEEN  RESULTS 

We  ought  to  know  better  than  to  despair  over  the  visible  result 
of  spiritual  endeavour.  During  a  recent  visit  to  Johannesburg  I 
spent  a  day  at  one  of  the  gold-mines.  There  was  immense  activity, 
gangs  of  workers,  clouds  of  dust,  hissing  steam,  deafening  stamps, 
heaps  of  quartz,  torrents  of  water  and  cauldrons  of  slime  ;  but  I  came 
away  without  having  seen  a  single  speck  of  gold.  The  engineer 
touched  the  bottom  of  a  turbid  stream,  and  exclaimed,  "  There  is 
a  particle  "  ;  it  was,  however,  as  invisible  to  me  as  the  same  metal 
usually  is  on  the  collection-plale.  Yet,  when  on  the  return  journey 
our  ship  anchored  at  Southampton,  we  discharged  boxes  of  gold- 
dust  to  the  tune  of  a  million.  Thus  to-day  our  evangelical  work 
proceeds  with  noise  of  machinery,  smoke  and  stir,  sweat  and  blood, 
and  a  thousand  things  that  are  trivial  and  trying  to  the  carnal  eye, 
but  the  practical  spiritual  gain  is  often  depressingly  dubious 
(Isa.  Iv.  11). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

SOFT-BONED  CHRISTIANS 

One  of  the  great  cities  of  our  island  was  recently  concerned  with 
the  softness  of  the  children's  limbs.     Their  limbs  were  threaded 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

with  bending  gristle  rather  than  with  firm  and  well-knit  bone.  And 
what  is  the  explanation  ?  That  the  water  they  drink  is  too  soft, 
destitute  of  the  harder  elements,  lacking  the  lime  which  goes  to  the 
making  of  bone.  Aye,  and  in  the  Christian  life,  when  the  bones 
are  too  soft  and  gristly,  or  when  the  backbone  is  altogether  want- 
ing, the  cause  may  frequently  be  found  in  too  soft  a  water  supply, 
in  the  ignoring  of  the  hard  and  severer  elements  of  Christian  truth. 
The  water  of  Calvinism  was  hard,  hard  enough,  but  it  made  bone, 
fine  bone,  bone  that  never  would  bend,  bone  that  could  only  be 
broken  (Rom.  xi.  22).— Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

Sometimes,  instead  of  a  single  illustration,  the  truth 
may  be  more  indelibly  impressed  on  the  memory,  and 
the   imagination    of    the   hearers   be   more   effectively 
stimulated,  by  using   a   sequence  of  similes   or  short 
illustrations.     This   was  a  favourite  method  of  Jesus 
Himself,  as  in  the  trilogy  of  Parables  of  the  Lost  Things, 
and   in   the   succession   of    parables    with   which    He 
describes  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.     The  preacher  who 
can  pile  up  illustrations  that  reinforce  each  other,  and 
produce  a  cumulative   effect,  is   a   happy  man.     It  is 
a  method   that   requires  a  skilful  workman  to  use  it, 
because  the  illustrations  which  will  reinforce  each  other 
must  not  too  closely  resemble  each  other.     The}^  will 
be   illustrations  drawn  from  different  fields,  and  their 
effect  is  produced  by  showing  how  the  same  law  worlds 
under  various  conditions.     As  examples  of  the  cumula- 
tive method,  take  the  following  extracts  from  sermons 
of  Dean  Farrar  and  Dr.  Maclaren  : — 

*'SOME  USE  TO  SOMEBODY" 

"  Do  you  ken,  sir,"  a  voice  called  out  at  a  Glasgow  operative 
meeting,  "  do  you  ken,  sir,  how  the  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
are  kept  clean?"  "No,"  said  the  clergyman.  "Well,"  replied 
the  man,  "each  one  aye  sweeps  before  his  own  door." 

24 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

"  If  I  go  out,"  said  John  Newton,  "  and  see  a  child  crying  because 
it  has  lost  a  ha'penny,  and  by  giving  it  another  ha'penny  can  dry 
its  tears,  I  do  not  consider  the  day  to  have  been  absolutely  wasted." 
*'  O  God !  "  so  some  of  the  French  nuns  are  taught  to  pray,  "  O 
God,  grant  that  this  day  I  may  be  of  some  use  to  somebody." 

St.  Theresa  once  wanted  to  build  an  orphanage,  but  she  had  only 
three  shillings,  and  someone  jeeringly  said  to  her,  "  What  can  you 
do  to  build  an  orphanage  with  only  three  shillings  ?  "  "  Theresa 
with  three  shillings,"  was  the  answer,  *'  can  do  nothing,  but  with 
three  shillings  and  with  God  to  help  her  there  is  nothing  that 
Theresa  cannot  do  !  "  (John  vi.  28). — Dr.  F.  W.  Farrar. 

<*GIRD  UP  THE  LOINS" 

A  loose  robe  tangles  a  man's  feet,  trips  him  up  if  he  tries  to  run, 
gets  caught  in  the  thorns,  may  be  laid  hold  of  by  an  enemy  that 
wants  to  drag  him  back  ;  and  every  toil,  and  every  travel,  and  every 
battle  you  have  got  to  tuck  it  up  well  from  the  waist.  It  is  a  very 
Eastern  metaphor.  May  I  substitute  an  English  vulgarism  for  it 
which  means  precisely  the  same  thing  ? — Pull  yourselves  together, 
that  is  to  say,  you  will  get  no  radiance  of  Christian  hope  in  your 
lives  without  making  a  great  effort  for  it.  A  sixpence  held  close  to 
a  man's  eye  will  shut  out  the  sun  from  him.  There  is  only  a  certain 
quantity  of  energy  and  power  of  attention  given  to  us,  and  if  we 
direct  it  all  in  one  quarter  there  will  be  none  of  it  left  for  the  other. 
You  may  take  all  the  water  out  of  the  river  and  turn  it  in  by  a  sluice 
into  a  miller's  lake  to  grind  his  corn,  and  then  the  bed  of  the  stream 
is  left  empty,  and  that  is  what  a  great  many  of  us  do.  "  Gird  up 
the  loins  of  your  mind  "  ;  make  the  effort,  for  without  the  effort  you 
will  never  rise  into  the  great  region  of  this  hope  (i  Pet.  i.  13). — 
Dr.  Maclaren. 

A  warning  should  be  given  against  using  illustrations 
that  are  too  obvious.  The  illustration  should  aim,  not 
only  at  directing  a  ray  of  light  upon  the  truth,  but  at 
interesting  the  hearer,  and  if  it  is  obvious  and  hackneyed, 
it  is  not  likely  to  interest.  This  does  not  mean  that 
illustrations  should  not  be  drawn  from  the  things  and 
incidents  of  common  hfe,  for  Jesus  Himself  drew  His 

25 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

illustrations  from  the  things  that  were  famihar  to  the 
average  man  and  woman  among  His  hearers.  It  does 
mean,  however,  that  the  preacher  should  invest  the 
commonplace  with  the  dignity  and  romance  that  are 
given  by  showing  their  relation  to  spiritual  truth — in 
other  words,  the  preacher  must  be  an  artist  in  his  use 
of  illustrations.  An  artist  will  paint  a  bit  of  common- 
place country  landscape  in  such  a  way  that  everybody 
who  sees  his  picture  will  wonder  that  they  never  saw  in 
the  bit  of  country  the  beauty  and  significance  with  which 
the  artist  has  invested  it.  He  will  paint  a  portrait  of 
some  child  whom  nobody  but  its  mother  had  ever  dis- 
tinguished from  a  crowd  of  children,  and  when  we  see 
his  picture  we  understand  why  Jesus  took  the  children 
into  His  arms  and  blessed  them.  He  will  paint  some 
weather-worn  old  fisherman  or  farm  labourer,  or  some 
grannie  with  withered  cheeks  and  furrowed  brow,  and 
in  his  pictures  of  the  man  of  the  soil  and  the  man  of 
the  sea  we  shall  have  symbols  of  the  dignity  of  the  toil 
that  wrings  from  the  soil  and  the  sea  its  harvest  for  the 
food  of  man,  and  the  picture  of  the  grannie  will  touch 
and  soften  the  heart  of  the  spectator  by  its  revelation 
of  the  soul  of  the  woman  who  has  faithfully  done  her 
duty  in  her  day  and  generation,  has  worked  unremit- 
tingly without  complaint,  has  won  the  undying  love  of 
her  children  and  her  grandchildren,  and  at  eventide  it 
is  light  with  her  as  calmly  she  awaits  the  summons  to 
join  those  who  have  gone  before  her  to  the  land  of 
eternal  re-union.  Everything  in  God's  world  is  divine 
if  seen  in  **  the  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land," 
and  the   preacher  will   take   the  most    commonplace 

26 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

things  as  illustrations  of  spiritual  truths,  and  the  things 
will  be  glorified  by  the  use  he  makes  of  them. 

The  striking  use  that  may  be  made  of  things  that  are 
essentially  commonplace,  but  may  be  glorified  by  their 
association  with  spiritual  truths,  is  shown  in  the 
following  examples  : — 

"I  AND  THE  CHILDREN" 

The  other  day  I  saw  a  woman  who  was  carrying  a  child  slip  on 
the  pavement.  In  the  act  of  falling,  with  a  dexterity  they  could 
not  teach  in  a  gymnasium  in  twenty  years,  she  held  up  the  child 
unharmed ;  and  when  the  people  gathered  about  her,  forgetting 
her  own  bruises,  she  gaily  boasted,  "  Never  mind,  I've  saved  the 
child."  Whatever  be  our  present  struggles  and  trials,  all  will 
quickly  be  forgotten  if  we  may  only  boast  before  the  Throne, 
"Behold,  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given  me"  (Heb. 
ii.  13). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

THE  NEW  HEART 

A  man  has  bought  a-farm,  and  he  finds  on  thatTarm  an  old 
pump.  He  goes  to  the  pump  and  begins  to  pump.  And  a  person 
comes  to  him  and  says,  "  Look  here,  my  friend,  you  do  not  want 
to  use  that  water.  The  man  that  lived  here  before,  he  used  that 
water,  and  it  poisoned  him  and  his  wife  and  children — the  water 
did."  "Is  that  so?"  says  the  man.  "Well,  I  will  soon  make 
that  right.  I  will  find  a  remedy."  And  he  goes  and  gets  some 
paint,  and  he  paints  up  the  pump,  putties  up  all  the  holes,  and  fills 
up  the  cracks  in  it,  and  has  got  a  fine-looking  pump.  And  he 
says,  '*Now  I  am  sure  that  it  is  all  right."  You  would  say, 
"What  a  fool,  to  go  and  paint  the  pump  when  the  water  is  bad  !  " 
But  that  is  what  the  sinners  are  up  to.  They  are  trying  to  paint 
up  the  old  pump  when  the  water  is  bad.  It  was  a  new  well  he 
wanted.  When  he  dug  a  new  well  it  was  all  right.  Make 
the  fountain  good  and  the  stream  will  be  good.  Instead  of  painting 
the  pump  and  making  new  resolutions,  stop  it,  and  ask  God  to 
give  you  a  new  heart  (Ps.  li.  10). — D.  L.  Moody. 

27 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

WEAKNESS  LINKED  TO  STRENGTH 

I  observed  on  one  of  our  new  trams — a  great  heavy  electric 
tram  pursuing  its  ponderous  way  along  the  metals — a  young  fellow, 
who  was  not  a  very  good  hand  at  bicycling,  come  up  and  catch 
hold  of  the  iron  rail,  and  as  the  great  tram  swung  on,  he  went  with 
it.  He  was  not  fool  enough  to  try  and  make  the  tram  come  his 
way,  and  as  we  swept  round  curves  he  swept  round  also,  and  the 
speed  we  went  he  went,  and  his  bicycle  just  followed  suit  so  easily, 
swiftly,  and  naturally.  And  as  I  saw  him  speeding  along  I  said  : 
"  May  I  link  on  with  the  movement  of  Thy  mighty  purpose  on  the 
iron  rails  of  justice  and  love !  Sweep  on,  O  Son  of  God,  in  Thy 
great  work  for  men,  and  let  me  be  linked  with  Thee  for  ever  "  ( i  Cor. 
xii.  6).— Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

BREEZES  FROM  THE  EVERLASTING  HILLS 
Said  an  old  villager  to  me,  concerning  the  air  of  his  elevated 
hamlet,  "Ay,  sir,  it's  a  fine  air  is  this  westerly  breeze  ;  I  like  to 
think  of  it  as  having  travelled  from  the  distant  fields  of  the 
Atlantic!"  And  here  is  the  Apostle  Paul,  with  the  quickening 
wind  of  redemption  blowing  about  him  in  loosening,  vitalising, 
strengthening  influence,  and  to  him,  in  all  his  thinking,  it  had  its 
birth  in  the  distant  fields  of  eternity!  (Eph.  iii.  ii). — Rev.  J.  H. 
JOWETT,  M.A. 

JESUS   CHRIST   A   CANDIDATE. 

A  deacon  of  a  Congregational  church  in  the  North  of  Scotland 
v/as  canvassing  at  a  Parliamentary  election.  He  was  canvassing 
for — I  will  not  say  which  party.  He  went  in  to  see  an  old  man 
who  was  so  very  spiritual  that  he  would  not  concern  himself  at  all 
with  the  national  welfare,  and  he  asked  this  old  man  for  whom  he 
intended  to  vote.  At  first  the  old  man  said,  "  I  am  not  going  to 
vote  at  all."  Then  this  canvasser  urged  upon  him  the  claims  of 
the  candidate  on  whose  behalf  he  had  called,  and  the  old  man 
again  answered,  "  So-and-so  is  not  my  man.  The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  my  Man."  This  deacon,  a  Congregational  deacon,  made 
this  foolish  answer  :  "  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  candidate  in  this 
election."  That  is  where  all  the  mischief  comes  in.  We  say  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  candidate  in  this  election  because  we  are  often 
a  people  without  vision.  Jesus  Christ  is  a  candidate  in  every 
election  (Luke  xix.  14). — Dr.  A.  E.  Garvie. 

28 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

THE    LORD'S  HONEY 

Billy  Bray  said  that  when  he  was  converted  he  felt  like  a  man  i; 
a  new  world,  and  years  afterwards  testified,  "Well,  friends,  V\e 
taken  vinegar  and  honey,  but,  praise  the  Lord  !  I've  had  th< 
vinegar  with  a  spoon  and  the  honey  with  a  ladle."  He  had  cauglw 
the  spirit  of  the  Master  ;  for  none  entered  into  the  gladness  i* 
living  more  fully  than  Jesus,  who  graced  with  His  presence  a 
marriage  feast,  and  associated  so  freely  with  His  fellow  men  even 
in  their  social  enjoyment,  that  His  critics  exclaimed,  *'  He  eats  ami 
drinks  with  publicans  and  sinners"  (Luke  vii.  34). — Rev.  J.  H. 
Rush  BROOKE,  M.A. 

THE   SPIRIT'S   WOOING 

When  shall  we  begin  the  wooing  ?  When  I  had  written  that 
sentence  1  chanced  to  lift  my  eyes  from  the  paper,  and  I  saw  a 
tender  fruit-sapling  just  laden  with  blossom  !  At  what  age  may  a 
sapling  blossom  ?  At  what  age  may  a  young  life  begin  to  blossom 
for  the  King,''  To  revert  to  my  figure — when  shall  we  begin  the 
wooing?  Plato  said:  "The  most  important  part  of  education  is 
right  training  in  the  nursery."  And  Ruskin  said  :  "  When  do  you 
suppose  the  education  of  a  child  begins  ?  At  six  months  old  it  can 
answer  smile  with  smile,  and  impatience  with  impatience."  Per- 
haps we  have  to  begin  the  wooing  even  in  the  speechless  years. 
In  the  life  of  the  Spirit  I  believe  in  early  wooings  because  I  believt 
in  early  weddings  !  The  wooing  and  the  wedding  become  increas- 
ingly difficult  when  we  pass  the  age  of  twelve.  As  for  the  weddin^^ 
itself,  the  betrothal  to  the  Lord,  I  would  have  it  a  very  decisive 
act.  It  must  be  a  conscious,  inteUigent  consecration  (Hos.  ii.  19). 
— Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

WEEDS    IN    NEGLECTED    SOIL 

Some  time  ago  I  reviewed  a  book  by  a  clergyman  who  found 
that  his  glebe  land  had  been  left  for  many  years  uncultivated.  He 
wanted  to  cultivate  it,  but  found  that  the  soil  was  so  knotted 
together  with  squitch  and  was  so  poisoned  with  noxious  weeds  that 
it  took  years  to  clean  it  and  prepare  it  for  the  cultivation  of  any- 
thing that  was  worth  cultivating.  So  it  is,  only  much  more  so, 
with  the  man  or  woman  who  has  allowed  heart  and  mind  to  be 
overgrown  with  the  rank  weeds  ot  self-indulgence.     Those  weeds 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

are  deeply  rooted,  and  they  need  painful  pulling  and  digging  out, 
so  painful  that  one  needs  almost  superhuman  strength  of  will  to 
accomplish  the  operation  (Gal.  v.  19 — 21). — H.  Jeffs. 

GOD   WANTS   US 

Dr.  Parker  once  in  my  hearing  used  a  beautiful  illustration. 
He  was  spending  a  holiday  somewhere.  He  went  with  a  little 
child  into  the  fields.  She  showed  her  devotion  to  him  by  running 
and  gathering  posies  of  wild  flowers  which  even  embarrassed  him 
to  carry  them  all.  "Did  I  need  them?"  said  he  in  his  charac- 
teristic fashion.  "Did  I  need  them?"  No.  "Did  I  want  them?" 
Yes.  "  Does  God  need  us  ? "  No.  "  He  has  chosen  the  weak 
things  to  confound  the  mighty."  "Does  He  want  us?"  Yes, 
yes,  praise  to  His  name.  He  does  want  us.  From  the  humble 
gathering  of  the  fishermen  down  to  us  the  commission  runs 
(John  xxi.  19;  Luke  vii.  37). — Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell,  M.A. 

THE   MUSIC  OF   HEAVEN. 

You  have  heard  Santley  or  Madame  Patti  sing.  Oh,  is  it 
possible  that  there  could  be  such  notes  in  a  human  throat  ?  What 
God  can  do  !  You  have  heard  some  of  the  sweet  singers  ot 
Nature.  One  beautiful  evening  in  the  gloaming  I  was  cycling  in 
the  South  of  England  with  a  friend.  We  were  shooting  down  a 
hill.  On  either  side  of  us  there  were  the  woods.  And  by-and-by 
he  jumped  off  his  machine,  and  he  said :  "  Stop  I "  And  I 
stopped.  I  said,  "  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  "  Can't  you  hear,  man  ?  " 
**  Hear  what  ?  "  I  listened,  and  from  the  woods  on  either  side 
there  came  the  song  of  the  nightingales — one,  two,  three,  four, 
five,  six.  If  you  have  never  heard  the  nightingale  sing  you  don't 
know  how  much  music  God  can  cram  into  a  little  bird's  throat. 
"  Ear  hath  not  heard  "  the  wondrous  music,  that  music  of  heaven  ; 
neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  (i  Cor.  ii.  9). 
— Rev.  Samuel  Horton. 

PAPER  FLOWERS  AND   GARDEN   ROSES 

In  winter-time  one  occasionally  sees  in  a  flower-glass  an 
artificial  rose  made  of  paper,  with  a  green  stem  very  green,  and  a 
red  leaf  extremely  red — horrid  things,  I  think  them — and  we 
cannot  help  remembering  the  beautiful  rosebud  that  blossomed  in 

30 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

the  garden  a  few  months  ago.  What  is  the  difference  ?  The  first 
required  clever  workmanship,  it  was  the  task  of  patient  fingers,  and 
yet  we  hesitate'  not  a  moment  to  give  the  prize  to  the  second. 
What  is  the  difference?  The  first  was  made  and  the  other  grew. 
That  is  all.  Even  so  there  is  a  difference  of  worlds  between 
artificial  characters  and  characters  in  Christ.  The  one  is  made 
like  the  rough  marble  block  chiselled  and  hammered  and  hewn 
into  shape,  indeed  a  wonderful  testimony  to  human  industry  and 
skill ;  but,  after  all  is  said  and  done,  it  is  made^  it  is  made;  while 
the  other  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  shooting  out  in  dainty  lines  and 
lineaments,  taking  on  a  graceful  shape,  putting  forth  beautiful 
features,  rounded  in  a  charming  manner — a  full  and  finished  life. 
The  one  suggests  strain,  the  other  suggests  peace  (i  Kings  vii.  21, 
22). — Rev.  Frank  Y.  Leggatt. 

If  the  preacher  is  teUing  a  story  by  way  of  illustra- 
tion, he  should  be  able  to  tell  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
excite  the  curiosity  of  the  congregation  and  keep  its 
interest  and  attention  until  the  story  is  completed. 
The  story  may  not  be  much  in  itself,  but  it  may  gain  a 
very  great  deal  by  the  manner  in  which  it  is  told,  while 
the  best  of  stories  may  lose  most  of  its  effect  if  it  is 
related  mechanically  and  without  any  dramatic  effect. 
Nothing  is  so  wearisome  as  a  badly  told  story,  and  a 
preacher  who  has  not  acquired  the  art  of  story-telling 
had  better  limit  himself  to  an  occasional  simile.  If  the 
congregation  can  guess  as  soon  as  the  story  begins  what 
the  end  is  going  to  be  their  interest  is  not  excited  or  is  at 
once  exhausted.  The  skilful  illustrator  makes  the  con- 
gregation wait  for  the  point  of  the  story  which,  like 
that  of  an  epigram,  should  not  be  clearly  realised  until 
the  end.  The  element  of  surprise  is  an  invaluable 
element  in  a  story  illustration.  The  fact  that  the 
curiosity  of  the  audience  has  been  set  on  edge  fixes  the 

31 


V 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

story  in  the  memory,  and  sets  the  imagination  of  the 

hearers  at  work. 

I   put   together    some    story   illustrations    as    good 

examples  of  the  artful  maintenance  of  the  interest  by 

keeping  the  congregation  waiting  until  the  story  was 

finished. 

THE  HUNTED  SOUL 

A  very  dear  and  intimate  friend  of  mine  only  this  last  week 
related  to  me  a  dream  which  had  been  blessed  by  God  to  the 
redemption  of  his  own  father.  The  father  dreamt  that  he  was  a 
hare,  and  a  hare  he  was.  So  real  and  so  graphic  was  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  dream  that  he  felt  he  could  almost  smell  the  dewy 
turnip-tops  of  the  fields  amongst  which  he  hopped.  Suddenly 
he  heard  the  cry  of  the  hounds.  He  pricked  his  ears,  listened, 
and  bolted  full  pace  across  the  fields.  The  hounds  drew  nearer 
and  nearer,  and  came  at  last  so  close  to  him  that  he  could  feel 
their  hot  breath.  Then  he  found  that  he  was  leaving  the  green 
pastures  and  was  reaching  bare  and  rugged  heights ;  and  just  when 
he  had  reached  those  bare  and  rocky  heights  he  became  conscious 
that  his  pursuers  were  not  hounds.  They  were  his  sins,  and  he 
was  a  flying  soul !  Away  up,  away  up,  away  up  towards  the 
summit  he  saw  a  cave,  and  terrified  beyond  measure  he  made 
for  the  cave  and  then  turned  round.  The  entrance  to  the  cave 
was  flooded  with  a  most  unearthly  light,  and  just  in  the  centre  of 
the  opening  there  shone  resplendently  a  cross,  standing  between 
him  and  the  awful  things  that  pursued.  He  awoke,  and  behold,  it 
was  a  dream.     But  he  was  redeemed. 

•*  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee  ! " 

(Col.  ii.  14).— Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ONE  MAN 

During  a  lull  in  the  battle  of  Magersfontein,  when  it  almost 
seemed  as  if  the  Highlanders  had  lost  heart,  there  came  wandering 
into  an  open  space  a  piper  with  his  pipes  under  his  arm.  An 
officer,  Major  Anson,  who  was  killed  an  hour  later,    rushed  up 

32 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

to  him  and  said  in  the  Scotch  dialect,  "  Blaw,  man,  blaw  your 
pipes  ! "  The  piper  replied,  *'  I  canna ;  my  lips  are  dry."  The 
officer  tried  to  pull  out  his  water-bottle  from  his  belt  and  give  the 
poor  fellow  a  drink,  but  he  was  unable  to  do  so.  The  man  knelt 
down,  and  putting  his  mouth  to  the  neck  of  tl)e  bottle  drew  a  long 
draught.  Then  into  the  muggy,  misty  air  the  skirl  of  the  pipes 
was  heard  once  more,  playing  the  well-known  tune,  "  Hey,  Johnny 
Cope,  are  ye  wakin'  yet  ?  "  As  he  stood  there  marking  time  with 
the  stamping  of  his  foot,  gradually  from  different  places  his  com- 
rades began  to  gather  round  him.  Other  pipers  joined  in  the  tune, 
and  presently  the  tide  was  stemmed  once  more.  The  men  were 
sifted  into  regiments,  and  then  into  companies.  Parched  with 
thirst  and  weary  with  the  long  fight,  they  stood  there  in  the 
lines  mopping  their  faces  on  their  coat-sleeves.  And  once  more 
they  charged,  and  although  at  enormous  loss,  the  advance  was 
made.  It  is  a  vivid  picture  of  the  influence  of  o?ie  7min  in  the 
supreme  moment  of  necessity.  Who  can  tell — God  knows — but 
that  this  evening  that  man  may  be  here,  through  whose  stand,  open 
and  confessed,  for  Christ,  not  one  but  many  souls  will  be  turned  to 
righteousness  (Heb.  xi.  34). — Rev.  Donald  Sage  Mackay. 

THE  MOTHER  HEART 

A  friend  of  mine  some  years  ago  came  to  the  knowledge  about 
sundown  that  her  only  child  was  lost.  They  lived  near  a  very 
large  swampy  section  of  the  country,  and  she  thought,  "  If  that 
child  of  mine  is  in  that  swamp,  there's  no  telling  whether  I'll  ever 
see  him  any  more."'  And  she  began  to  send  the  news  around.  She 
did  not  wait  for  someone  to  come  and  interrogate  her  ;  she  started 
from  house  to  house,  until  she  gathered  together  a  band  ot  more 
than  three  hundred  men  and  women.  And  they  did  not  have  to 
be  persuaded,  you  know.  Just  as  soon  as  that  mother  heart  went 
out  to  them,  each  man  got  him  a  lantern  and  started.  They  made 
a  drive  through  that  great  swamp.  All  the  night  long  they  were 
marching,  marching,  marching,  through  mud  and  water  and  cold, 
looking  here  and  there  and  there — until,  about  sunrise,  moiher 
heard  the  child  cry,  and  I  need  not  tell  the  rest  of  that  story. 
If  that  mother  were  here  this  afternoon,  and  1  should  ask  her  to 
stand  up  and  tell  this  audience  how  Jesus  felt  that  d:iy  when  He 
laid  aside  all  of  Heaven,  and  came  down  to  this  world  of  sin,  10 

33  c 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,  I  think  she  could  make  a 
much  better  job  of  it  than  I  am  making  to-day  (Luke  xix.  lo). — 
Dr.  Len.  G.  Broughton. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  window  which  serves 
to  let  in  light  upon  the  truth  to  be  made  clear,  it  is 
often  better  to  use  plain  glass,  a  pure  transparency  that 
admits  the  white  light  without  any  stain  of  colour. 
Illustrations,  however,  are  ornaments  as  well  as  win- 
dows, and  it  is  sometimes  legitimate  to  use  an  illustra- 
tion largely  for  the  sake  of  ornament,  to  relieve  the 
tension  of  listening  to  a  sustained  argument,  or  the 
preacher  introduces  a  bit  of  colour  on  to  a  surface  that 
would  otherwise  be  too  much  of  a  monotone.  The 
ornamental  illustration  should,  of  course,  be  avoided  if 
it  will  in  any  way  distract  attention  from  the  argument 
or  line  of  thought,  but  there  is  no  necessary  reason  why 
light  admitted  through  a  coloured  window  should  not 
illustrate  a  truth  quite  as  clearly  as  light  admitted 
through  a  colourless  pane  of  glass.  Milton  tells  of 
**  storied  windows  richly  dight,"  and  an  illustration 
may  be  such  a  storied  window,  that  not  only  illumines 
the  truth,  but  serves  the  purpose  of  attractive  and 
ingratiating  ornament. 

The  preacher  who  uses  the  ornamental  illustration 
needs,  however,  to  be  an  artist,  for  nothing  is  more 
irritating  than  a  bungling  attempt  to  tell  a  story,  or  to 
indulge  in  allegory  that  will  sound  fustian  unless  the 
story  is  perfectly  told,  and  the  allegory  is  skilfully 
carried  through.  As  examples  of  the  extended  orna- 
mental and  the  allegorical  illustration,  take  those  that 
follow : — 

34 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

THE   TEMPLE    IN  PARADISE 

Let  me  remind  you  of  that  legend  about  the  temple  in  Paradise. 
This  record  is  not  found  in  the  Book,  but  to-day  we  know  a  great 
deal  that  is  not  there.  Tradition  says  that  there  was  a  temple  in 
Paradise  for  Adam  and  Eve  to  worship  in.  The  place  would 
certainly  not  be  crowded  !  But  this  temple  was  built  of  pearl,  and 
was  the  most  magnificent  shrine  that  ever  stood  on  this  planet. 
The  foundations  were  diamonds,  and  the  dome  was  a  mighty  flash- 
ing sapphire.  It  was  the  most  majestic  temple  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  But  the  story  says  that  on  the  day  when  Adam  sinned  it  fell 
into  ruin  and  was  strewn  all  over  the  planet.  So  the  diamonds  and 
pearls,  the  topaz  and  beryl,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  precious  stones 
found  to-day  are  the  remnants  of  the  primitive  shrine.  There  is  a 
profound  lesson  under  that  legend.  Through  human  sin  and  folly  the 
temple  of  truth  has  been  shattered,  and  in  the  creeds  and  philoso- 
phies of  men  of  all  nations  you  find  the  scattered  remnants  mixed 
with  rubbish,  yet  shining  in  the  dust.  But  on  the  day  when  our 
Lord  stepped  into  our  midst  and  said,  "  I  am  the  Truth,"  we  got  the 
temple  back  in  more  than  fabled  splendour,  let  down  from  God  out 
of  Heaven.  It  makes  all  the  difference  whether  you  get  the  whole 
truth  or  only  a  bit  of  truth,  a  glittering  speck  of  truth  ;  it  is  another 
thing  when  you  get  the  whole  redeeming  truth  set  forth  in  the 
majestical  figure  which  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  Christian 
revelation  (John  xiv.  6). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

DO   THEY   MISS   US? 

Once  there  gathered  on  a  southern  shore  a  group  of  men  and 
women.  They  watched  three  small  craft  stand  out  to  sea.  They 
saw  them  vanish  into  the  great  and  vast  western  ocean.  Whether 
they  passed  into  the  Heaven  above,  whether  they  floated  on  the  sea 
below,  who  could  tell  ?  And  many  a  time  amid  western  isles 
Columbus  and  his  men  thought,  Do  they  miss  us  at  home?  Do 
they  think  of  us  as  still  living  amid  these  western  isles  ?  When 
they  returned  as  men  from  death,  what  did  they  return  to  ?  To 
love,  to  home,  to  all  that  meant  for  them  fame  and  immortality. 
So  often  on  earth  we  think  of  our  loved  dead,  now  floating  on 
earth,  now  passed  into  Heaven.  Wherever  they  are,  let  us  lift 
our  hands  and  say,  "  Thou  art  still  in  the  keeping  of  Him  who  says 

35  C   2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

the  first  is  the  last.  The  will  of  God  still  remaineth  the  will  that 
saves.  Thou  art  in  His  eternal  keeping.  Has  He  not  said,  "  I 
have  the  keys  of  death  and  of  hell"?  (Rev.  i.  17 — 18).— Dr. 
Fairbairn. 

EVERY  SOUL  ITS  OWN  JUDGE 

A  modern  volume  of  sermons  gives  this  Buddhist  story  to 
illustrate  this  text.  The  subject  had  lived  wickedly,  and  became 
very  ill  and  nigh  unto  death.  In  the  fever  he  had  a  dream,  and  in 
this  dream  he  was  conducted  through  the  under-world  to  the  hall 
of  justice  in  which  the  judges  sat  in  curtained  alcoves.  He  came 
opposite  his  judge,  and  was  told  to  write  his  misdeeds  upon  a  slate 
provided  for  that  purpose.  Sentence  was  then  passed  that  he 
should  be  thrice  struck  by  lightning  for  his  sins.  The  curtain  was 
then  drawn  back,  and  he  faced  his  judge,  to  find  there  seated  the 
very  image  of  himself,  and  he  realised  that  he  had  pronounced  the 
verdict.  He  had  unconsciously  judged  himself  (Prov.  viii.  36). — 
Rev.  Rocliffe  Mackintosh. 

The  allegorical  illustration  has  the  advantage  that  the 
preacher  can  make  it  himself,  with  every  detail  of  the 
allegory  precisely  adapted  to  the  purpose  it  is  designed 
to  serve.  The  Miracle  Play  and  "  Morality "  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  w^ith  all  their  crudities,  v^ere  very  effective 
allegorical  methods  of  presenting  spiritual  truth  to  the 
minds  of  the  people,  who  could  take  in  nothing  that 
was  not  given  concrete  embodiment.  Who  can  measure 
the  influence  of  Bunyan's  allegories  in  elucidating  and 
popularising  the  Biblical  theology  of  "grace  abound- 
ing"? The  allegory,  however,  needs  skilful  handling. 
Nothing  is  duller  and  flatter  and  more  nauseating  than 
a  badly  conducted  allegory.  The  allegory  should  have 
the  romance  of  the  fairy  tale,  it  should  be  realistic, 
it  should  excite  curiosity  and  sustain  attention,  and  it 
should  be   told   with   conviction  and  dramatic   effect. 

36 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

The  success  on  the  stage  of  "Everyman"  shows  that 
dramatically  presented  allegory  can  be  made  as  popular 
in  our  days  as  ever  it  w^as.  Some  of  the  best  speakers 
to  children  make  large  use  of  the  allegorical  method. 
Addison,  v^hose  Spectator  allegories  are  the  best  of  their 
kind  in  our  literature,  says :  "  Allegories,  v^hen  well 
chosen,  are  like  so  many  tracks  of  light  in  a  discourse, 
that  make  everything  about  them  clear  and  beautiful ; 
and  noble  metaphor,  when  it  is  placed  to  an  advantage, 
casts  a  glory  round  it,  and  darts  a  lustre  through  a 
whole  sentence." 

Every  preacher  should  be  familiar  with  "The  Pil- 
grim's Progress,"  and  "  The  Holy  War,"  and  he  will 
draw  many  a  telling  illustration  from  Bunyan's  mar- 
vellous incarnation  of  the  friends  and  foes  of  the 
Christian  in  his  pilgrimage  and  warfare.  Various  uses 
of  allegory  are  illustrated  in  the  following  examples  : — 

NEAR   THE   CROSS 

Where  has  the  sanctifying,  hopeful  comfort  of  the  Church  been 
found  to-day  ?     Not  far  away  from  the  cross  ! 

"  As  I  saw  in  my  dream  that  just  as  Christian  came  up  to  the 
cross  his  burden  loosed  from  off  his  shoulders  and  fell  from  off  his 
back,  and  began  to  tumble,  and  so  continued  to  do  until  it  came  to 
the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre,  where  it  fell  in  and  I  saw  it  no  more. 
Then  was  Christian  glad  and  lightsome,  and  said  with  a  moving 
heart,  *  He  has  given  me  rest  by  His  sorrow  and  life  by  His 
death!'" 

That  is  an  experience  to  which  a  great  number  here  can  shout 
"Amen!" 

But  I  will  turn  away  from  John  Bunyan,  who  might  be  thought 
to  be  a  very  faithful  witness  to  the  power  of  his  Lord,  and  I  will  turn 
to  a  little-frequented  path,  to  Goethe,  perhaps  Goethe's  master- 
piece. Let  me  give  you  just  a  short  extract  from  those  wonderful 
"  Confessions  of  a  Beautiful  Soul :" 

37 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

"  I  leaned  on  a  little  table  beside  me  and  I  hid  my  tear-stained 
face  in  my  hands,  and  who  could  ever  express  even  in  the  dimmest 
way  the  experience  that  came  to  me  then?  A  secret  influence 
drew  my  soul  to  the  cross  where  Jesus  once  expired,  and  which 
was  an  inward  leaning — I  cannot  give  it  any  other  name — an 
inward  leaning  like  that  which  draws  the  heart  to  its  beloved  in  its 
absence.  As  my  soul  drew  near  to  Him  who  became  mine  and 
died  upon  the  cross,  in  that  moment  I  knew  what  faith  meant,  and 
in  that  moment  my  spirit  received  a  wholly  new  power  of  uplifting  '* 
(i  Cor.  i.  23,  24).— Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

CAPTAIN    RESISTANCE 

':"  ••I.. 

Man  is  not  bound  hand  and  foot  as  the  slave  of  circumstances. 
He  is  able  to  assert  himself,  to  resist,  to  fight  and  to  conquer. 
Bunyan,  in  "The  Holy  War,"  tells  how  the  city  of  Mansoul  was 
besieged  by  Diabolus  and  his  host.  The  city  was  garrisoned  on 
behalf  of  King  Shaddai  and  the  king's  son  Immanuel.  It  was 
surrounded  by  a  strong  wall  in  which  were  five  gates — Ear-gate, 
Eye-gate,  Mouth-gate,  Nose-gate,  and  Feel-gate.  The  city  was 
impregnable  against  any  siege  if  it  refused  even  to  parley  with  its 
crafty  enemy.  It  possessed  in  Captain  Resistance  a  man  that 
Diabolus  and  his  band  more  feared  than  they  feared  the  whole 
town  of  Mansoul  besides.  Captain  Resistance  was  strongly  backed 
by  Mr.  Recorder,  whose  name  was  Conscience.  It  was  only  when 
Captain  Resistance  was  killed  in  a  parley  from  the  wall  with  an 
arrow  fired  from  an  ambuscade  that  "  poor  Mansoul  was  wholly 
left  naked  of  courage,  nor  had  she  now  any  heart  to  resist."  The 
first  thing  that  Diabolus  did  on  taking  possession  of  the  town  was 
to  depose  Mr.  Recorder  and  to  place  a  servant  of  his  own  in 
Mr.  Recorder's  place.  What  we  have  to  do  is  to  keep  Captain 
Resistance  ahve,  to  keep  Mr.  Recorder  in  office,  and  then,  when 
Diabolus  comes  and  tells  us,  "You  cannot  do  what  is  right;  God 
expects  too  much  of  poor  human  nature,"  you  can  reply  defiantly, 
*'  I  can,  because  I  am  a  man  "  (i  Pet.  v.  8,  9). — H.  Jeffs. 

"THE    PILGRIM'S   PROGRESS"    UP   TO    DATE 

I  wonder  how  many  of  you  have  read  a  very  clever  and  very 
keen  satire  upon  religious  life  to-day,  written  by  an  American 
writer,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  entitled  "  The  Celestial  Railroad." 

3S 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

He  tells  us  how  once,  in  a  dream,  he  visited  the  City  of  Destruc- 
tion, and  he  found  that  now  there  had  been  opened  from  the  City 
of  Destruction  to  the  Celestial  City  a  railroad,  and  things  were 
greatly  changed,  changed  for  the  greater  comfort  and  convenience 
of  the  pilgrims.  Instead  of  the  quaking  morasses  of  the  Slough  ot 
Despond  there  was  good,  firm  ground.  No  pilgrim  need  carry 
his  burden  upon  his  back,  there  were  arrangements  made  for 
relieving  pilgrims  from  all  such  needless  incumbrances.  As  for 
the  Hill  Difficulty,  why,  they  had  tunnelled  it,  and  the  Valley  of 
Humiliation  had  been  filled  up  with  the  debris.  And  when  he 
reached  Vanity  Fair,  he  found  that  now,  instead  of  the  old  feuds 
between  the  pilgrims  and  those  that  dwell  in  Vanity  Fair,  a 
perfectly  good  understanding  had  been  arrived  at.  Trade  was 
brisk  between  them  that  dwell  there  and  the  pilgrims.  Nay, 
indeed,  the  Lord  of  the  Town  was  himself  the  chief  supporter  of 
the  railroad.  It  brought  so  much  traffic  to  the  place.  And  the 
chief  nobles  were  the  main  stock-holders  in  the  railroad.  There 
was  wisdom  under  the  satire  and  deepest  piercing  truth  that  some 
of  us  would  do  well  to  take  home  unto  ourselves.  Nay,  you  know 
that  the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God.  Go  to,  go  to, 
we  say  ;  should  not  the  Church  and  the  world  go  into  partnership  .? 
Time  was  when  the  old  distinction  between  the  Church  and  the 
world  had  blood  in  it.  It  was  real.  For  then  things  were  black 
or  they  were  white  ;  to-day  they  shade  off  into  a  sort  of  neutral 
grey,  and  now  the  wisest  cannot  tell  where  the  world  ends  and  the 
Church  begins  (James  iv.  4). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

THE   ANGEL   OF   MERCY 

Somewhere  there  is  recorded  the  legendary  experience  of  some 
ancient  mystic  who  early  in  his  life  turned  from  baseness  and 
degradation  to  Christ  and  to  sweetness  and  light.  To  him  in  the 
crisis  of  his  repentance  came  the  Angel  of  Mercy,  who  explained 
to  him  the  things  of  Calvary  and  helped  him  to  believe  both  that 
God  was  willing  to  forgive  and  that  the  Angel  himself  would  bear 
away  his  sins  for  ever.  The  aged  saint  passed  many  years  that 
were  restful  with  the  peace  of  a  great  forgiveness,  but  as  he  drew 
near  to  the  hour  of  his  dying,  fear  came  upon  him  lest  after  all  his 
misdeeds  would  be  remembered  against  him.  Even  as  he  feared 
he  was  aware  that  the  Death  Angel  was  casting  a  shadow  across 

39 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

his  bed,  and  when  he  looked  through  dimmed  eyes,  lo  !  the  Angel  of 
Death  was  his  former  friend,  the  Angel  of  Mercy.  Together  they 
went  along  that  white  road  of  time  that  leads  to  the  City  of  God, 
and  as  they  walked  the  great  fear  fell  upon  him  again.  He  hardly 
dared  to  speak  of  what  was  in  his  heart  because  it  showed  such 
lack  of  faith,  but  at  last  his  trembling  voice  faltered  out,  "  O, 
Mercy,  where  did  you  bury  my  sins  ?  "  The  Angel  of  Mercy,  who 
was  wise  as  well  as  tender,  understood,  and  looked  at  him,  and 
smiled,  and  said,  "Is  it  thus  with  you,  my  brother?  I  have  for- 
gotten where  I  buried  them,  and  the  Father  has  long  since  ceased 
to  remember  that  ever  you  sinned  at  all,"  This  can  be  at  the  best 
but  allegory,  yet  it  is  an  allegory  with  a  true  soul  of  wonderful 
spiritual  suggestion.  If  sadness  by  reason  of  recollected  sin 
hinders  the  coming  of  the  radiant  mood,  let  us  see  God  as  what 
He  is  and  know  Him  for  a  loving  Father  who  has  put  the 
transgressions  of  the  penitent  far  beyond  the  area  of  Divine 
remembrance  (Isa.  xliii.  25). — Rev.  J.  G.  Stevenson. 

THE   THATCH   AND   THE   MOSS 

I  have  met  a  beautiful  parable.  "  Dear  moss,"  said  the  old 
thatch,  "  I  am  so  old,  so  patched,  so  ragged,  really  I  am  quite 
unsightly.  I  wish  you  would  come  and  cheer  me  up  a  little.  You 
will  hide  my  infirmities,  and  through  your  love  and  sympathy  no 
finger  of  contempt  or  dislike  will  be  pointed  at  me."  "  I  come," 
said  the  moss  ;  and  it  crept  up  and  over  and  in  and  out  till  every 
flaw  was  hidden,  and  all  was  smooth  and  fair.  Presently  the  sun 
shone  out,  and  the  old  thatch  looked  glorious  in  its  golden  rays. 
"  How  beautiful  the  thatch  looks  !  "  cried  one.  "  How  beautiful 
the  thatch  looks  !  "  cried  another.  "  Ah  !  "  said  the  old  thatch, 
"  rather  let  them  say,  '  How  beautiful  is  the  love  of  the  moss  which 
spreads  itself  and  covers  over  my  faults,  and  keeps  the  knowledge 
of  them  all  to  herself,  by  her  own  grace  casting  over  me  a  beautiful 
garb  of  freshness  and  verdure  !'  "  In  every  true  friendship  there 
must  be  much  of  the  charity  that  covereth,  concealing  where 
it  cannot  help  the  minor  imperfections  (i  Cor.  xiii.  7,  8).^ 
Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt. 

Very  effective  use  can  be  made  of  Christian  biography, 
and  of  the  testimonies  and  confessions  of  spiritual  men. 

40 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

Dr.  Alexander  Whyte  is  a  master  of   this  method  of 
illustration,  and  so  also  is  Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A.,  two 

of  whose  illustrations  follow  : — 

SUFFERING  WITH  CHRIST 
There  is  a  sentence  in  David  Hill's  biography — that  rare,  gentle, 
refined  spirit  who  moved  like  a  fragrance  in  his  little  part  of  China 
• — a  sentence  which  has  burnt  itself  into  the  very  marrow  of  my 
mind.  Disorder  had  broken  out,  and  one  of  the  rioters  seized  a 
huge  splinter  of  a  smashed  door  and  gave  him  a  terrific  blow  on 
the  wrist,  almost  breaking  his  arm.  And  how  is  it  all  referred  to  ? 
"  There  is  a  deep  joy  in  actually  suffering  physical  violence  for 
Christ's  sake."  That  is  all  !  It  is  a  strange  combination  of  words 
— suffering,  violence,  joy !  And  yet  I  remember  the  evangel  of  the 
apostle,  "  If  we  suffer  with  Him  we  shall  also  reign  with  Him," 
and  I  cannot  forget  that  the  epistle  which  has  much  to  say  about 
tribulation  and  loss,  has  most  to  say  about  rejoicing!  (Col.  i.  24). 
— Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

THE  OPEN  EYES 
When  I  was  preparing  this  sermon  I  took  down  from  my  shelves 
a  volume  of  James  Smetham's  letters.  James  Smetham,  never 
rich  in  this  world's  money,  always  poor,  but  the  friend  of  Ruskin, 
and  therefore  unspeakably  rich  !  And  James  Smetham  was  once 
asked  by  a  friend  to  accompany  him  to  Rome  and  Venice,  and  he 
answered  his  correspondent .  "  I  ought  to  go  with  you  to  Rome, 
but  my  difficulty  is  to  appreciate  my  own  little  back  garden,  our 
copper  beech,  onr  weeping  ash,  our  little  nailed-up  rose  tree,  and 
twisting  nailed-up  creepers.  INiy  diiticulty  is  to  get  all  out  of  that. 
I  think  when  I  have  finished  with  the  back  garden  I  will  go  as  far 
as  Rome  !  "  In  another  letter  he  adds  these  wonderfully  fine  words  : 
**  I  have  just  been  down  to  the  end  of  Church  Street  to  get  a  blow 
before  settling  down  for  the  night,  and  as  I  looked  at  the  wild, 
wintry  clouds  I  had  a  new  feeling  of  immortality."  My  brothers, 
I  would  sooner  have  James  Smetham's  little  back  garden,  with 
his  appreciation  of  the  copper  beech,  and  the  weeping  ash,  and  the 
little  rose  tree,  and  the  creepers,  than  all  Whitaker  Wright's  great 
gardens  and  lakes  with  all  their  barbaric  splendour,  and  yet  be 
destitute  of  the  power  of  appreciating  the  religious  and  aesthetic 

41 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

« 

significance  of  the  meanest  flower  that  blows  (Matt.  xx.  32,  33). — 
Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

It  should  already  have  suggested  itself  to  the  reader 
that  the  preacher  w^ho  is  successfully  to  illustrate  his 
sermons  will  have  to  take  pains  w^ith  his  sermons. 
Illustrations  do  not  grow  on  every  bush,  and  they  are 
not  to  be  plucked  and  forced  into  use  at  a  moment's 
notice.  The  hurriedly  prepared  sermon  will  lack  illus- 
tration unless  it  be  the  sermon  of  the  man  who  is  always 
preparing  himself,  by  reading,  thinking,  and  observation, 
for  any  emergency.  A  man  who  keeps  his  mind  full, 
who  is  always  feeding  his  imagination,  will  have  a 
store  of  illustrations  laid  up  ready  to  be  drawn  upon,  or 
that  will  spontaneously  suggest  themselves,  when  his 
heart  is  warmed  and  his  brain  is  active,  even  in  hasty 
preparation  or  in  the  inspiration  of  actual  delivery. 
The  sermons  of  the  average  preacher  will  be  bare  and 
bald  of  illustration  unless  he  has  had  his  text  ready  and 
his  line  of  thought  in  his  mind  for  a  reasonable  time 
before  he  goes  into  the  pulpit  to  deliver  the  sermon. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  used  to  say  that  he  had  many 
sermons  in  various  stages  of  preparation,  like  apples 
ripening  in  a  drawer,  and  he  never  preached  a  sermon 
until  it  was  ripe.  The  illustrations  do  not  appear  as  a 
rule  until  the  ripening  stage  has  arrived.  But  then  no 
preacher  ought  to  enter  the  pulpit  to  feed  the  congre- 
gation with  green  fruit.  If  preaching  is  the  absorbing 
passion  of  his  life,  if  the  burning  and  yearning  desire  of 
his  heart  is  to  influence  and  help  the  congregation,  he 
will  always  be  jotting  down  thoughts  for  sermons.  He 
will  always  be  on  the  look-out  for  suitable  illustrations, 

42 


General  Principles  of  Illustration 

and  if  he  realises  the  value  of  the  imaginative  element 
in  preaching,  and  subjects  his  imagination  to  intensive 
cultivation,  he  is  not  likely  to  have  to  complain  of  the 
scanty  crop  of  illustrations  that  his  imagination  and  his 
reading  produce.  His  own  interest  in  his  subjects  will 
be  intensified  by  the  illustrations  that  come  to  him,  and 
his  own  enjoyment  of  his  sermons — and  nobody  will 
grudge  enjoyment  to  the  man  who  preaches  them — will 
be  all  the  keener  as  he  notices  how  the  illustrations 
grip  the  congregation,  arouse  their  attention,  and  drive 
home  and  fix  his  points  in  their  minds.  There  may  be 
preachers,  of  course,  who  are  not  imaginative  men, 
whose  method  is  the  method  of  logic  and  calm  appeal 
to  reason,  and  to  such  men  illustrations  will  rarely 
come ;  but  there  is  much  more  latent  imagination  in  the 
average  preacher  than  even  he  himself  suspects.  It 
should  be  his  ardent  desire  and  his  energetic  determina- 
tion to  raise  his  imagination  to  its  highest  power.  In 
the  chapters  that  follow  suggestions  will  be  given  that 
may  help  him  to  make  his  imagination  a  fruitful  con- 
tributor to  the  interest  and  the  impressiveness  of  his 
preaching. 


43 


CHAPTER  III 

BIBLE   METHODS    OF   ILLUSTRATION 

Much  may  be  learned  by  the  preacher  of  the  art  of 
illustration  from  the  example  of  the  Bible  writers. 
The  Orientals  in  all  ages  have  been  passionate  lovers  of 
stories  and  poetry,  and  their  religious  teachers  have 
made  large  use  of  stories  as  vehicles  of  religious 
instruction  and  inspiration.  He  who  "  knoweth  our 
frame  and  remembereth  that  we  are  dust "  chose  men 
to  receive  the  revelations  of  His  character  and  His  will 
who  were  specially  fitted  to  present  those  revelations  in 
the  forms  that  would  commend  them  to  the  people 
of  their  times.  The  writers  of  the  Old  Testament 
especially  were  intensely  impressionable  men,  of  a  vivid 
imagination,  and  much  of  their  teaching  is  given  in 
imaginative  forms — that  is,  in  the  way  of  illustration. 
The  Hebrew  language  peculiarly  lends  itself  to  the 
illustrative  method.  It  is  a  language  that  loves  the 
concrete  rather  than  the  abstract,  a  language  of  highly- 
coloured  picture  words.  Read  any  Psalm,  any  chapter 
of  Proverbs,  the  Book  of  Job,  Ecclesiastes,  or  any  of 
the  prophets,  and  you  will  find  that  illustrations  are  as 
plentiful  as  blackberries  on  bramble  bushes  in  October. 
Hosea,  in  his  twelfth  chapter,  represents  Yahweh  as 
saying,  "  I  have  also  spoken  by  the  prophets,  and  I  have 
multiplied  visions  and  used  similitudes  by  the  ministry 

44 


Bible  Methods  of  Illustration 

of  the  prophets."  The  visions  and  similitudes  were 
pictures  internally  seen,  and  striking  analogies,  by 
which  the  prophets  illustrated  the  revelations  communi- 
cated to  them.  The  preacher  with  imagination  will 
find  hundreds  of  short  similitudes  and  thousands  of 
picture-words  that  at  once  suggest  illustrations.  Take, 
for  instance.  Psalm  Ixxxv.  What  a  dramatic  picture  of 
the  New  Testament  gospel,  already  existing  in  germ  in 
the  Old  Testament,  we  have  in  the  figures — '*  Mercy 
and  truth  are  met  together ;  righteousness  and  peace 
have  kissed  each  other.  Truth  shall  spring  out  of 
the  earth,  and  righteousness  shall  look  down  from 
heaven  "  ! 

The  Old  Testament  illustrations  are  often  similitudes 
beginning  with  an  illustration  and  concluding  with  the 
truth  illustrated.  As  examples  of  such  illustrations  we 
have  these : — 

"  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul 
after  Thee,  O  God"  (Ps.  xHi.  i). 

"  He  hath  not  dealt  with  us  after  our  sins  ;  nor  rewarded  us 
according  to  our  iniquities.  For  as  the  heaven  is  high  above  the 
earth,  so  great  is  His  mercy  toward  them  that  fear  Him.  As 
tar  as  the  east  is  from  the  west,  so  far  hath  He  removed  our 
transgressions  from  us  "  (Ps.  ciii.  lo — 12). 

In  verses  15  to  17  of  Psalm  ciii.  we  have  an  illustration 
in  which  the  similitude  emphasises  a  contrast : — 

"  As  for  man,  his  days  are  as  grass  ;  as  a  flower  of  the  field,  so 
he  flourisheth.  For  the  wind  passelh  over  it,  and  it  is  gone  ;  and 
the  place  thereof  shall  know  it  no  more.  But  the  mercy  of  the 
Lord  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  upon  them  that  fear  Him, 
and  His  righteousness  unto  children's  children." 

The  "  As — so's  "  of  the  Old  Testament  will  furnish 

45 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

the  preacher  with  a  very  pleasant  and  profitable  study 
of  the  art  of  illustration  by  similitudes. 

Amos,  in  chapters  vii.  and  viii.,  gives  a  sequence  of 
four  illustrations,  designed  to  impress  on  apostate  and 
profligate  Israel  that  it  had  worn  out  the  patience 
even  of  long-suffering  Yahweh,  and  that  it  was  ripe,  and 
rotten  ripe,  for  chastisement.  There  is  the  invasion  of 
the  grasshoppers  that  devour  the  aftermath,  the  fire 
that  licks  up  the  waters  of  the  great  deep,  the  picture 
of  Yahweh  standing  on  a  wall  with  a  plumb-line  measur- 
ing the  wall  for  destruction,  and  the  basket  of  summer 
fruit  that  typifies  that  the  time  of  the  ingathering 
of  the  ripened  harvest  of  the  "  fruits  of  the  flesh  "  has 
arrived.  Amos,  Micah  and  Hosea  are  particularly  worth 
studying  for  the  realism  of  their  illustrations  drawn  from 
common  life.  They  were  men  of  the  people  and  they 
use  the  language  of  the  people  and  illustrations  that 
appeal  to  the  common  man.  It  is  very  interesting  to 
notice  how  Amos  the  herdsman  and  cultivator  of 
sycamores  uses  illustrations  that  are  racy  of  the  soil, 
drawn  from  his  intimate  knowledge  of  agricultural  and 
shepherd  life.  He  makes  Yahweh  say,  "  Behold,  I 
am  pressed  under  you,  as  a  cart  is  pressed  that  is  full 
of  sheaves."  And  surely  we  have  a  vivid  reminiscence 
in  the  picture,  "  Thus  saith  Yahweh  :  As  the  shepherd 
taketh  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion  two  legs,  or  a  piece 
of  an  ear ;  so  shall  the  children  of  Israel  be  taken  out 
that  dwell  in  Samaria  in  the  corner  of  a  bed,  and  in 
Damascus  in  a  couch."  So  to-day  the  farm  labourer  local 
preacher  will  use  illustrations  that  smack  of  the  good 
brown  earth  and  have  in  thern  the  perfume  of  the  hay 

46 


Bible  Methods  of  Illustration 

field,  and  the  fisherman  preacher  will  ozonise  his  sermons 

with  illustrations  of  experiences  on  sea  and  shore. 

The  Old  Testament  sometimes  gives  us  illustrations 

in  the  shape  of  fables  or  parables.     In  Judges  ix.  7 — 15 

Jotham  rebukes   Abimelech  and  his  followers  with  a 

notable  fable. 

"The  trees  went  forth  on  a  time  to  anoint  a  king  over  them ; 
and  they  said  unto  the  olive  tree,  '  Reign  thou  over  us.'  But  the 
olive  tree  said  unto  them,  *  Should  I  leave  my  fatness,  wherewith 
by  me  they  honour  God  and  man,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 
trees  ? '  And  the  trees  said  to  the  fig  tree,  *  Come  thou  and  reign 
over  us.'  But  the  fig  tree  said  unto  them,  '  Should  I  forsake  my 
sweetness  and  my  good  fruit,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 
trees  ?  '  Then  said  the  trees  unto  the  vine,  '  Come  thou  and  reign 
over  us.'  And  the  vine  said  unto  them,  '  Should  I  leave  my  wine, 
which  cheereth  God  and  man,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 
trees  ? '  Then  said  all  the  trees  unto  the  bramble,  '  Come  thou  and 
reign  over  us.'  And  the  bramble  said  unto  the  trees,  'If  in  truth 
ye  anoint  me  king  over  you,  then  come  and  put  your  trust  in  my 
shadow  ;  and  if  not,  let  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble,  and  devour 
the  cedars  of  Lebanon  '  " 

Nathan  the  prophet  brought  David's  sin  home  to 
him  in  2  Samuel  xii.  i — 4  by  a  parable.  It  is  worth 
noting  that  Nathan  left  David  himself  to  make  the 
application,  and  that  the  point  was  sharp  and  pierced 
him  to  the  heart  is  shown  by  the  statement  that 
"  David's  anger  was  greatly  kindled  against  the  man." 

The  major  prophets — Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel — 
are  very  rich  in  exquisitely  beautiful  illustrations,  and 
illustrations  of  wonderful  force  and  aptness  in  driving 
home  their  teaching.  When  Isaiah,  for  instance,  had  to 
deliver  a  crushing  rebuke  to  Judah  for  its  forgetfulness 
of  God,  and  to  prophesy  the  punishment  which  that 
forgetfulness   was  destined  to  bring    upon    Yahweh's 

47 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

favoured  but  faithless  people,  he  used  an  illustration 
that  is  unsurpassed  in  the  Old  Testament  for  beauty 
and  point,  the 

SONG  OF   THE  VINEYARD 

Now  will  I  sing  to  my  well-beloved  a  song  of  my  beloved  touch- 
ing his  vineyard.  My  well-beloved  hath  a  vineyard  on  a  very 
fruitful  hill.  And  he  fenced  it  and  gathered  out  the  stones  thereof, 
and  planted  it  with  the  choicest  vines,  and  built  a  tower  in  the 
midst  of  it,  and  also  made  a  winepress  therein;  and  he  looked 
that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes,  and  it  brought  forth  wild  grapes. 
And  now,  O  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  and  men  of  Judah,  judge,  I 
pray  you,  betwixt  me  and  my  vineyard.  What  could  have  been 
done  more  to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done  in  it  ?  wherefore, 
when  I  looked  that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth 
wild  grapes  ?  And  now  go  to  :  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will  do  to  my 
vineyard  :  I  will  take  away  the  hedge  thereof  and  it  shall  be  eaten 
up  ;  and  break  down  the  wall  thereof,  and  it  shall  be  trodden 
down ;  and  I  will  lay  it  waste ;  it  shall  not  be  pruned,  or  digged  ; 
but  there  shall  come  up  briars  and  thorns  :  I  will  also  command 
the  clouds  that  they  rain  no  rain  upon  it.  For  the  vineyard  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts  is  the  house  of  Israel,  and  the  men  of  Judah  his 
pleasant  plant ;  and  he  looked  for  judgment,  but  behold  oppression  ; 
for  righteousness,  but  behold  a  cry. 

This  illustration  of  Isaiah's  is  in  many  ways  a  model 
illustration.  It  is  drawn  from  one  of  the  most  familiar 
sights  of  the  country,  the  vineyard.  It  is  exquisite  in 
its  beauty ;  it  is  marvellously  compact ;  it  illustrates 
exactly  the  things  Isaiah  wanted  to  impress,  and  it  does 
not  confuse  by  the  introduction  of  superfluous  details ; 
at  once  it  excites  interest,  it  arouses  curiosity,  it 
stimulates  imagination,  and  it  artfully  postpones  the 
"  moral "  until  the  story  is  completed.  It  carried  the 
consent  of  the  hearer  with  it,  and  made  the  hearer 
condemn  himself  in  his  own  case. 

48 


Bible  Methods  of  Illustration 

There  are  many  illustrations  in  Isaiah  which  the 
preacher  can  study  with  the  greatest  profit  and  which 
should  give  him  many  a  hint  that  he  could  put  to 
good  use.  Isaiah,  in  predicting  the  downfall  of  Babylon, 
Chapters  xiii.  and  xiv.,  might  have  contented  him- 
self with  simply  saying  that  the  power  of  the  king  of 
Babylon  should  be  broken,  and  that  his  pride  should 
be  punished  by  the  ruin  of  his  empire.  He  uses,  how- 
ever, in  his  great  ode,  one  of  the  most  audacious  and 
most  unforgettable  illustrations  in  literature — that  in 
which  he  pictures  the  scene  in  Hades  when  the 
humiliated  tyrant  of  the  East  is  received  and  taunted 
by  the  dwellers  in  the  under-world. 

Thou  shalt  take  up  this  proverb  against  the  king  of  Babylon, 
and  say,  "  How  hath  the  oppression  ceased  !  the  golden  city 
ceased  !  The  Lord  hath  broken  the  staff  of  the  wicked,  and  the 
sceptres  of  the  rulers.  He  who  smote  the  people  in  wrath,  with  a 
continual  stroke  ;  he  that  ruled  the  kingdoms  in  anger,  is  persecuted 
and  none  hindereth.  The  whole  earth  is  at  rest  and  is  quiet ;  they 
break  forth  into  singing.  Yea,  the  fir  trees  rejoice  at  thee,  and 
the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  saying,  "  Since  thou  art  laid  down,  no 
feller  is  come  up  against  us."  Hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for 
thee  to  meet  thee  at  thy  coming.  It  stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee, 
even  all  the  chief  ones  of  the  earth  :  it  has  raised  up  from  their 
thrones  all  the  kings  of  the  nations.  All  they  shall  speak  and  say 
unto  thee,  "  Art  thou  also  become  weak  as  we?  Art  thou  become  like 
unto  us  ?  And  thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  the  grave  and  the 
noise  of  thy  viols,  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee,  and  the  worms 
cover  thee.  How  art  thou  fallen  from  Heaven,  O  Lucifer,  son  of 
the  morning ;  how  art  thou  cast  down  to  the  ground  which  didst 
weaken  the  nations.  For  as  thou  hast  said  in  thine  heart,  '  I  will 
ascend  into  Heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the  stars  of  God : 
I  will  sit  also  upon  the  mount  of  the  congregation,  in  the  sides  of 
the  earth.  I  will  ascend  above  the  height  of  the  clouds ;  I  will  be 
like  the  most  High,'  yet  thou  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell,  to 
the  sides  of  the  pit.     They  that  see  thee  shall  narrowly  look  upon 

49  ^ 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

thee,  and  consider  thee,  saying, '  Is  this  the  man  who  made  the  earth 
to  tremble,  that  did  shake  kingdoms  ;  that  made  the  world  as 
a  wilderness  and  destroyed  the  cities  thereof  ;  that  opened  not  the 
house  of  his  prisoners  ? '  All  the  kings  of  the  nations,  even  all  of 
them  lie  in  glory,  every  one  in  his  own  house.  But  thou  ait  cast 
out  of  thy  grave  like  an  abominable  branch  and  as  the  raiment  of 
those  that  are  slain,  thrust  through  with  a  sword,  that  go  down  to 
the  stones  of  the  pit  :  as  a  carcase  trodden  under  feet.  Prepare 
slaughter  for  his  children  for  the  iniquity  of  their  fathers,  that 
they  do  not  rise  nor  possess  the  land,  nor  fill  the  face  of  the 
world  with  cities." 

When  we  come  to  the  New  Testament  we  come  to 
Him  who  *'  without  a  parable  spake  not  unto  them." 
It  is  the  illustrations  of  Jesus  that  have  done  most  to 
commend  His  teaching  to  the  common  people.  And 
how  simple,  and  apparently  how  commonplace,  His  illus- 
trations usually  are !  A  story  is  told  in  half-a-dozen 
sentences  and  "  on  the  stretched  forefinger  of  old 
Time  it  glitters  for  ever,"  and  for  ever  teaches  its 
unforgettable  lesson  to  an  eagerly  listening  world. 

THE  HOUSES  ON  ROCK  AND  SAND 

"  Therefore  whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  Mine  and  doeth 
them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise  man  which  built  his  house  upon 
a  rock  :  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat 
upon  that  house,  and  it  fell  not,  for  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock. 
And  every  one  that  heareth  these  sayings  of  Mine,  and  doeth  them ' 
not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand  :  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and 
the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house  ;  and  it  fell ;  and  great 
was  the  fall  thereof." 

THE  RICH  FOOL 

"  The  ground  of  a  certain  rich  man  brought  forth  plentifully : 

and  he  thought  within  himself,  saying,  What  shall  I  do,  because  I 

have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my  fruits  ?     And  he  said,  This  will 

I  do  ;  I  will  pull  down  my  barns,  and  build  greater  ;  and  there  v\ill 

50 


Bible  Methods  of  Illustration 

I  bestow  all  my  fruit  and  my  goods.  And  I  will  say  unto  my  soul, 
Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry.  But  God  said  unto  him,  Thou  fool, 
this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee  :  then  whose  shall 
these  things  be,  which  thou  hast  provided  ? '' 

What  knells  of  doom  are  the  words  in  these  parables  : 
'*  And  it  fell "  !  and  ''  But  God  said  unto  him  "  ! 

Luke  XV.,  with  its  sequence  of  Parables  of  the  Lost 
Things,  is  a  most  striking  example  of  Christ's  use  of  the 
cumulative  method  of  illustration.  In  the  Parable  of 
the  Lost  Sheep  we  have  the  yearning  love  of  the  shepherd 
who  cannot  rest  with  a  great  flock  when  a  single  one  is 
missing.  In  the  Parable  of  the  Lost  Piece  of  Silver  we 
have  an  illustration  of  the  determination  to  find  a  lost 
thing  of  comparatively  small  value,  and  of  what  seems 
like  disproportionate  joy  over  its  recovery;  but  the 
piece  of  silver  stands  for  the  soul  of  man,  and  the 
heavenly  treasury  would  be  the  poorer  if  a  single  soul 
were  missing.  In  the  Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  which 
has  so  deeply  touched  the  heart  of  the  world  and 
brought  countless  prodigals  out  of  ''  the  far  country," 
we  have  a  composite  illustration  dramatically  picturing 
to  us  the  feelings  of  the  sinner  who  has  discovered  his 
folly,  of  the  self-righteous  whose  life  has  been  formally 
correct  but  whose  heart  is  cold  towards  the  strayed 
and  fallen,  and  of  the  father  who  keeps  an  ever  open 
door  to  the  wild  and  wanton  boy,  who  cannot  exile 
himself  from  the  father's  heart  however  he  may  exile 
himself  from  the  father's  home  and  reject  his  authority. 
All  are  illustrations  of  the  tireless  love  of  God,  of  His 
unwearying  resolve  to  save  the  sinner  from  himself, 
of  the  *'joy  in  heaven"  when  the  "lost  is  found,"  and 

51  D  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

"  the  dead  is  alive  again,"  but  what  a  Divine  miniature 
masterpiece  each  story  is,  and  how  they  complement  each 
other  by  their  differences  in  likeness — the  subtle  differ- 
ences of  children  who  are  all  like  their  father  and  mother ! 
One  other  illustration  of  Jesus  only  can  here  be 
quoted,  for  the  sake  of  the  comparison  with  Isaiah's 
"  Song  of  the  Vineyard,"  to  which  it  is  a  Gospel 
pendant. 

CHRIST'S  PARABLE  OF  THE  VINEYARD 

"  Hear  another  parable :  There  was  a  certain  householder, 
which  planted  a  vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round  about,  and  digged 
a  winepress  in  it,  and  built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to  husbandmen, 
and  went  into  a  far  country  ;  and  when  the  time  of  the  fruit  drew 
near,  he  sent  his  servants  to  the  husbandmen,  that  they  might 
receive  the  fruits  of  it.  And  the  husbandmen  took  his  servants, 
and  beat  one,  and  killed  another,  and  stoned  another.  Again,  he 
sent  other  servants  more  than  the  first  :  and  they  did  unto  them 
likewise.  But  last  of  all  he  sent  unto  them  his  son,  saying,  They 
will  reverence  my  son.  But  when  the  husbandmen  saw  the  son, 
they  said  among  themselves,  This  is  the  heir ;  come,  let  us  kill 
him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his  inheritance.  And  they  caught  him, 
and  cast  him  out  of  the  vineyard,  and  slew  him.  When  the  lord, 
therefore,  of  the  vineyard  cometh,  what  will  he  do  unto  those 
husbandmen  ?  They  say  unto  him,  He  will  miserably  destroy 
those  wicked  men,  and  will  let  out  his  vineyard  unto  other 
husbandmen,  which  shall  render  him  the  fruits  in  their  seasons. 
Jesus  saith  unto  them.  Did  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures,  The 
stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head  of 
the  corner  ;  this  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our 
eyes .''  Therefore  say  I  unto  you,  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  be 
taken  from  you,  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits 
thereof"  (Matt.  xxi.  33—43). 

The  illustrations  of  Jesus  are  never  "literary  "in  the 
sense  of  being  deliberate  artistic  creations.  They  are 
the  impromptus  of  the  preacher  whose  eyes  and  ears 

52 


Bible  Methods  of  Illustration 

are  open  to  everything  that  is  going  on  about  Him,  and 
who  finds  God  in  everything.  The  parables  are  wild- 
flowers  that  spring  up  in  the  Gospel  soil,  and  wildflowers 
that  by  their  unstudied  beauty  have  never  ceased  to 
charm  and  make  their  simple  appeal  to  the  heart.  The 
best  illustrations,  like  the  best  songs,  are  not  the  fruits 
of  effort,  but  the  fruits  of  the  deeply  stirred  heart  that 
is  in  tune  with  Nature  and  with  God. 

A  word  should  be  said  about  the  illustrations  of  Paul. 
He  is  not  the  poet  but  the  theologian,  the  strenuous 
thinker ;  but  he  is  in  dead  earnest,  and  he  knows  the 
value  of  illustrations.  The  Isthmian  Games  gave  him 
such  illustrations  as  this  from  running: —  **  Not  as  though 
I  had  already  attained,  either  were  already  perfect,  but  I 
follow  after,  if  that  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which  also 
I  am  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus.  Brethren,  I  count 
not  myself  to  have  apprehended  ;  but  this  one  thing  I  do, 
forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching 
forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward 
the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

Perhaps  from  the  boxing  contests  in  the  same  games 
he  got  the  illustration  in  2  Timothy,  when  the  candle 
of  his-  life  has  burnt  to  the  socket :  *'  I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith :  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of 
righteousness." 

From  the  familiar  spectacle  of  the  Roman  soldiers 
he  gathered  such  illustrations  as  that  of  **  the  whole 
armour  of  God  "  and  **  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death  ?  " 

53 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

It  may  well  be  that  from  the  marble  temples  of 
Athens,  Corinth  and  Ephesus  he  drew  the  illustration 
in  Ephesians  ii.  19 — 22: — 

"  Now  therefore,  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and 
foreigners,  but  fellow  citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the 
household  of  God ;  and  are  built  upon  the  foundations 
of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being 
the  chief  corner-stone ;  in  whom  all  the  building  fitly 
framed  together  groweth  into  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord  ; 
in  whom  also  ye  are  builded  together  for  an  habitation 
of  God  through  the  Spirit." 

Speaking  humanly,  had  the  Bible  been  given  in  the 
dry  forms  of  pure  theology  it  could  never  have  become 
the  book  of  universal  humanity  in  all  its  varieties,  in 
every  stage  of  civilisation  and  class  of  society,  the  book 
of  old  and  young,  of  men  and  women,  the  book  of  the 
disinherited  of  the  earth,  of  the  philosopher,  and  of  the 
old  woman  who  painfully  spells  out  its  words  in  her 
cottage.  The  illustrations  make  it  a  living  book, 
throbbing  with  "  red-veined  humanity,"  and  the  preacher 
who  would  convey  its  messages  should  study  to  convey 
them  by  the  illustrative  methods  that  are  so  splendidly 
exemplified  in  the  Bible  books.  Those  methods,  well 
managed,  have  never  failed,  and  never  will  fail ;  for  the 
heart  of  the  world  is  the  child's  heart  that  is  always 
pleading  for  a  story. 


54 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   ILLUSTRATIVE   USE   OF   FICTION 

The  library  of  the  preacher  should  be  well  stocked 
with  works  of  imagination.  If  he  reads  the  best  novels, 
the  best  plays,  the  best  poetry,  always  with  an  eye  to 
the  enrichment  of  his  sermons,  he  will  not  only  be 
cultivating  his  own  imagination,  but  he  will  be  con- 
tinually drawing  treasure  trove  out  of  the  imaginative 
creations  of  men  and  women  who  have  studied  human 
nature  sympathetically,  and  have  reproduced  human 
nature  in  vivid  transcripts  in  their  works.  The  common 
fault  of  the  preacher  is  to  devote  his  reading  too  exclu- 
sively to  Biblical  and  theological  works.  He  ought,  of 
course,  to  spare  no  pains  in  making  himself  familiar 
with  the  text  of  the  Bible,  in  getting  an  intelligent 
understanding  of  the  meaning  and  messages  of  the 
Bible  books,  as  they  were  written  by  men  of  their 
times  to  the  men  of  their  times,  and  as  they  convey 
Divine  revelation  to  the  men  of  all  times.  It  is  well 
that  he  should  have  a  consistent  and  convincing 
theology  rooted  in  the  personality,  the  self-sacrificial 
life,  the  inspiring  example,  the  teaching  and  the  crown- 
ing sacrifice  on  Calvary  of  Him  who  is  the  summit  and 
the  completion  of  the  revelation  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  the  Light  and  the  Life  of  the  world.  But  the 
preacher,  if  he  is  to  touch  the  human  heart,  if  he  is  to 

55 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

convey  the  messages  of  the  Bible  and  the  Gospel  to  the 
average  man,  must  be  also  a  keen  and  sympathetic 
student  of  human  nature.  He  must  know  how  to  get 
into  his  sermons  those  touches  of  Nature  that  make  the 
whole  world  kin.  Any  one  man  or  woman  is  an  epitome 
of  the  race.  The  joys  and  sorrows  of  one  are  the 
joys  and  sorrows  of  all.  All  human  hearts  are  in 
relationship  to  each  other.  The  inspired  novelist, 
the  inspired  dramatist,  the  inspired  poet  in  his  crea- 
tions, studies  human  life  under  all  conditions  and  cir- 
cumstances, and  gives  us  living  pictures  in  which,  so 
far  as  they  are  living,  we  recognise  ourselves  as  we 
should  or  might  be  under  similar  circumstances  and 
conditions.  The  popularity  of  novels  and  plays  is 
due  largely  to  this  self-identification  of  the  reader,  or 
the  spectator,  with  the  characters  who  play  their  parts 
in  the  story  or  the  drama.  We  ourselves  are  the  hero, 
the  lover,  and,  though  we  would  not  admit  it  to  anybody 
else,  we  are  also  the  villain.  The  novelist,  the  drama- 
tist, and  the  poet  present  to  us  people  of  every  class,  of 
every  temperament,  of  every  country;  but  there  is  always 
the  common  human  heart.  Their  works  are  mirrors  of 
human  nature.  Our  own  environment  is  a  narrow  one. 
We  live  and  move  in  our  own  limited  circle.  The 
imaginative  creators  take  us  out  of  our  circle  and 
enlarge  our  experience  of  life.  They  go  deep  down 
into  the  heart,  and  show  us  the  comedies  and  the 
tragedies  that  are  always  working  themselves  out  where 
good  and  evil  are  in  conflict  for  the  mastery  of  a  soul. 
Of  course  there  are  novelists  and  novelists,  dramatists 
and  dramatists,  poets  and  poets,  and  their  pictures  of 

56 


The  Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 

life  are  coloured  by  their  own  temperament  and  their 
own  peculiar  outlook  on  life ;  but  these  varieties  of 
temperament  and  outlook  only  add  to  the  human 
interest  of  the  pictures,  for  the  authors  are  revealing 
themselves  as  well  as  revealing  the  humanity  they 
study  and  transcribe.  John  Bunyan,  in  **  The  Pil- 
grim's Progress "  and  **  The  Holy  War,"  is  giving 
us  dramas  of  the  pilgrimage  and  the  warfare  of  his  own 
soul,  but  it  is  also  the  pilgrimage  and  the  warfare  of  all 
other  souls.  Milton,  in  "  Paradise  Lost,"  was  painting 
in  Adam  and  Eve  not  only  our  first  parents,  but  all 
their  sons  and  daughters.  They  were  novelist  and 
dramatist  as  much  as  Walter  Scott  and  Shakespeare. 
Every  story  and  every  play  is  really  a  drama,  alle- 
gorical or  realistic,  of  the  human  soul.  The  preacher 
who  appreciates  this  and  reads  fiction,  drama  and 
poetry  for  revelations  of  the  human  heart  will  never 
lack  illustrations,  though,  of  course,  he  should  be 
always  himself  a  student  of  human  life  and  always 
creating  illustrations  of  his  own  out  of  what  he  finds 
in  the  human  nature  of  the  people  among  whom  he 
lives  and  moves. 

Such  novels  as  those  of  George  Eliot,  in  which  charac- 
ters are  created  directly  from  life  by  a  creator  with  a 
wonderful  intuition  of  the  workings  of  the  human 
heart,  and  with  a  wonderful  power  of  identifying  herself 
sympathetically  with  the  characters  she  creates,  are 
rich  treasure-houses  of  materials  for  illustration.  Take 
**  Adam  Bede,"  for  instance :  what  a  variety  of  human 
character  and  experience  is  brought  before  us  in  that 
sto  y]!     The  man  who  believed  in  the  gospel  of  work, 

57 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

simple-hearted,  strong,  with  deep  human  affection ;  the 
weak-willed,  hot-blooded  Hetty  Sorrel,  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,  the  victim  of  passion  driven 
like  a  dried  leaf  in  an  autumn  gust  to  her  doom ;  the 
young  squire,  as  weak  of  will,  who  plays  with  fire,  sins 
greatly  and  repents  bitterly  when  it  is  too  late ;  the 
inimitable  Mrs.  Poyser,  sharp  of  tongue  but  kindly  of 
heart,  a  model  housewife,  who  rules  with  a  strong 
hand,  a  type  of  the  English  home-maker  who  has 
made  the  English  home  the  world  over  the  symbol 
of  domestic  comfort — all  these  are  more  or  less  our- 
selves drawn  by  the  brush  of  a  master  artist.  The 
preacher  who  reads  such  works  gets  an  insight  into 
human  nature  which  will  enable  him  to  make  his 
sermons  intensely  human,  and  he  will  draw  from  such 
studies  illustrations  that  will  go  straight  to  the  hearts 
of  his  hearers  as  reproductions  and  revelations  of  their 
own  intimate  experience. 

It  is  not  only  the  classic  creator  of  works  of  imagina- 
tion, however,  who  will  supply  the  preacher  with 
splendid  and  telling  illustrations.  There  are  many 
transcribers  of  life  who  are  none  the  less  faithful 
transcribers  because  they  are  not  endowed  with 
genius  of  the  first  order.  Any  observant  student  ot 
life  who  pictures  what  he  has  seen  and  felt  in  his 
studies  of  humanity  is  contributing  to  the  illustrative 
resources  of  the  pulpit.  Novelists  of  to-day  can  often 
be  drawn  upon  with  profit,  all  the  more  so  because 
their  names  and  their  works  are  familiar  to  men  in  the 
congregation,  and  because  they  are  transcribing  life  in 
its  various  aspects  and  in  various  conditions  of  t^eir 

58 


^1     Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 
The  li. 

s  us,  an'  He  starves  us,  an'  He  hurts  our 

own   time.      The   uSl^j  says  He's  a  dunderhead  at  runnin'  a 

tive  literature  in  sermould  run  a  sight  better,  if  we  was  able 

1        4.U   d.  r  ^^  ^avy,  does  His  day's  work  in  a  sea- 

examples  that  lollow,  som,    '       ,        ,     "^  ,        , 

^  Ved  backs  an'  empty  stomachs  an 

some  from  recently  publisheQNan  He  can  help.    'Tis  little  we 

'tis  wise,  I'm  thinkin',  not  t' 
REST   IN    SACRl>rt' let  Him  steer  His  own 
In  that  marvellous  story  of"  Kim,"  the  la'^^  He  was  up  t'  some- 
fatigue,  and  the  weight  beyond  his  years,  brokt^®  hymn,  lad,  about 
at  the  feet  of  the  aged  man  for  whom  he  begged  4^^'^<^^-    -^^j  Davy, 
the  weary  head  on  his  lap  during  the  noonday  heatb^^^    Duncan 
the  flies  during  the  heat  till  his  wrist  ached,  begged 
evenings,  and  rubbed  the  tired,  aged  feet  at  night, 
blessedness  it  meant  to  the  young  heart !      Did  he  ever  cc. 
cost  of  the  travail  and  labour  which  he  bore  day  after  day  thr«. 
their  memorable   trudge   amid   the   plains  of  India.?    And  w'^" 
could  estimate  his  joy  when  the  old  man  said  gently  :  "  Thou  hast 
never  stepped  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  Way  of  Obedience.    Child, 
I  have  lived  on  thy  strength  as  an  old  tree  lives  on  the  lime  of  a 
new  wall.      Therefore,   not  through   any  sin   of  thine   art   thou 
weakened.     Be  comforted."     That  is  only  a  story  told  by  a  master 
hand,  but  it  is  true  to  the  deepest  life.     The  soul  forgets  weariness, 
privation,  pain — all,  if  only  it  may  give  itself  to  the  one  it  loves 
(2  Cor.  xii.  9,  io).^Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

CHRIST   THE   COMPANION 

In  the  Styrian  highlands  there  lived  a  peasant  who  was  nick- 
named "The  Pair."  He  gained  the  name  through  his  curious 
conduct.  He  was  a  well-to-do  landowner,  had  a  family,  a  large 
number  of  servants,  numerous  friends,  and  yet  he  was  scarcely 
ever  seen  in  society.  He  always  went  about  alone,  and  yet  not 
alone.  When  he  walked  along  the  road,  he  always  took  the  worst, 
the  rough  or  wet  path,  so  that  the  good  path  on  his  right  remained 
free,  as  if  for  a  companion,  whom  he  wished  to  honour.  And  yet 
no  one  was  ever  seen  walking  by  his  side.  At  home,  at  every 
meal,  a  special  cover  was  laid  in  the  place  of  honour  ;  it  consisted 
of  white  china,  and  silver  which  had  always  to  be  bright  and  clean. 
The  large  table  was  well  filled,  the  father  sat  at  the  top,  but  the 
place  Qn  his  right  hand  remained  empty.     And  yet  the  peasant 

59 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illus'stration 

simple-hearted,  strong,  with  deep  hcinguished  guest  sat  there, 
weak-willed,    hot-blooded    Hett^  invisible  guest  was  given  to 

against  than  sinning,  the  ^anionship  with  an  invisible  being 
like  a  dried  leaf  in  an  aut  he  Pair."  If  he  was  asked  what  it 
young  squire,  as  weak  of-P^y  o^  said  mysteriously:  *'  But  He  is 

,1  J  i.     t.  1  whom  he  meant — the  Lord  Jesus.    The 

greatly  and  repents  ^       ^,  ,,  ^^. 

.    .     ,  out  of  love  and  honour  to  Him,  out  of  love 

inimitable  l^irs.   P^  pia.ce  was  set  at  the  table  ;  and  whether  he 

heart,   a   model  iking  his  rest,  he  was  always  calm  and  cheerful, 

hand    a   tvDe  "^  ^^  ^^  were  in  company  with  another,  a  person  of 

,       ,.rhom  no  one  ever  saw.     Before  he  had  attained  a 

,  the  man  fell  mortally  sick.    Then  a  chair  was  placed  by 

of  domfiide,  and  he  put  out  his  arm  as  if  he  were  holding  some- 

selve?    hand  and  carried  on  a  low-toned    conversation   with  the 

/isible  occupant  of  the  chair.     When   he   was   dead,  no  one 

^  v^entured  to  move  the  chair  from  the  bedside.      His  grave  in  the 

•^   churchyard  was  near  a  white  marble  monument  representing  the 

Good  Shepherd.     And  as  the  peasant's  coffin  sank  into  the  earth 

it  seemed  to  me  as  I  stood  there  that  a  white  light  gleamed  into 

the  open  grave  from  the  figure  of  the  Good   Shepherd,  shining 

brilliantly  in  the  sun. 

And  this  peasant  was  one  who  was  happy  upon  earth  in  the 
belief  of  Jesus  Christ  (Rev.  iii.  20).— Peter  Rosegger  ("  My 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  "). 

GOD'S  MYSTERIOUS  WAY 

"  Ah,  Davy,  the  ways  o'  God  is  strange.  He  manages  somehow 
t'  work  a  blessin'  with  death  an'  wreck.  '  I'm  awful  sorry  for  they 
poor  children,'  says  He,  *  an'  for  the  owners  o'  that  there  fine  ship  ; 
but  I  got  t'  have  My  way,'  says  He,  'or  the  world  would  never 
come  t'  much  ;  so  down  goes  the  ship,'  says  He,  '  an'  up  comes 
that  dear  mother  t'  My  bosom.  'Tis  no  use  tellin'  them  why,'  says 
He,  'for  they  wouldn't  understand.  An',  ecod  ! '  says  He,  'while 
I'm  about  it  I'll  just  put  it  in  the  mind  o'  that  doctor-man  t'  stay 
right  there  an'  do  a  day's  work  or  two  for  Me.'  I'm  sure  He 
meant  it — I'm  sure  He  meant  to  do  just  that — I'm  sure  'twas  all 
done  o'  purpose.  We  thinks  He's  hard  an'  a  bit  free  an'  careless. 
Ecod  !  they's  times  when  we  thinks  He  fair  bungles  His  job.     He 

60 


The  Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 

kills  us,  an'  He  cripples  us,  an'  He  starves  us,  an'  He  hurts  our 
hearts  ;  an'  then,  Davy,  we  says  He's  a  dunderhead  at  runnin'  a 
world,  which,  says  we,  we  could  run  a  sight  better,  if  we  was  able 
t'  make  one.  But  the  Lord,  Davy,  does  His  day's  work  in  a  sea- 
manlike way,  usin'  no  more  crooked  backs  an'  empty  stomachs  an' 
children's  tears  an'  broken  hearts  than  He  can  help.  'Tis  little  we 
knows  about  what  He's  up  to.  An'  'tis  wise,  I'm  thinkin',  not  t' 
bother  about  tryin'  t'  find  out.  'Tis  better  t'  let  Him  steer  His  own 
course  an'  ask  no  questions.  I  just  knowed  He  was  up  t'  some- 
thing grand.  I  said  so,  Davy  !  'Tis  just  like  the  hymn,  lad,  about 
His  hidin'  a  smilin'  face  behind  a  frownin'  Providence.  Ah,  Davy, 
He'll  take  care  o'  we!^^  (Mark  vii.  37). — NoRMAN  Duncan 
("Doctor  Luke"). 

INTO   THE  SUNSHINE 

My  mother  turned  her  face  from  us.  She  trembled,  once,  and 
sighed,  and  then  lay  very  quiet.  I  knew  in  my  childish  way  that 
her  hope  had  fled  with  ours — that,  now,  remote  from  our  love  and 
comfort — alone — all  alone — she  had  been  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  last  dread  prospect.  There  was  the  noise  of  rain  on  the  panes, 
and  wind  without,  and  the  heavy  tread  of  Skipper  Tommy's  feet, 
coming  up  the  stair,  but  no  other  sound.  But  Skipper  Tommy, 
entering  now,  moved  a  chair  to  my  mother's  bedside,  and  laid 
a  hand  on  hers,  his  old  face  illuminated  by  his  unfailing  faith  in  the 
glory  and  wisdom  of  his  God. 

"  Hush  !  "  he  said.  "  Don't  you  go  gettin'  scared  at — the  thing 
that's  coming — t'  you.  'Tis  nothin'  t'  fear,"  he  went  on,  gloriously 
confident.  "  'Tis  not  hard,  I'm  sure — the  Lord's  too  kind  for  that. 
He  just  lets  us  think  it  is,  so  He  can  give  us  a  lovely  surprise,  when 
the  time  comes.  Oh,  no,  'tis  not  hard!  'Tis  but  like  wakin'  t'  the 
sunlight  of  a  new,  clear  day.  Ah,  'tis  a  pity  us  all  can't  wake  with 
you  t'  the  beauty  o'  the  morning  !  But  the  dear  Lord  is  kind. 
There  comes  an  end  to  all  the  dreamin'.  He  takes  our  hand. 
'  The  day  is  broke,'  says  He.  *  Dream  no  more,  but  rise,  child  o' 
Mine,  and  come  into  the  sunshine  with  Me.'  'Tis  only  that  that's 
comin'  t'  you — only  His  gentle  touch — an'  the  wakin'.  Hush  ! 
Don't  you  go  gettin'  scared.  'Tis  a  lovely  thing — that's  comin' 
t'  you ! " 

"  I'm  not  afraid,"  my  mother  whispered,  turning.     "  I'm  not 

61 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

afraid,  Skipper  Tommy.     But  I'm  sad — oh,  I'm  sad — to  have  to 

leave '' 

She  looked  tenderly  upon  me  (Rev.  xxi.  4). — NORMAN  DUNCAN 
("Doctor  Luke"). 

THE  POISONED   WELLS 

The  man  who  agitates  for  any  particular  reform  must  always 
be  prepared  to  meet,  not  only  with  the  hostility  of  those  who  will 
be  hurt  and  sacrificed  for  the  good  of  the  community,  but  also  with 
the  indifference  of  the  mass  of  people  who  will  acquiesce  with  them. 
Perhaps  there  never  has  been  a  finer  illustration  of  the  difficulty 
that  besets  the  agitator  than  that  which  the  keen-sighted  critic 
of  society,  Henrik  Ibsen,  gave  in  his  play,  "An  Enemy  of  tha 
People."  Some  of  you  are  familiar  with  that  remarkable  story. 
You  know  how  in  a  little  Norwegian  town  there  is  a  doctor  whose 
brother  is  burgomaster  of  the  town.  The  doctor  is  anxious  for  the 
town's  real  prosperity,  and  that  prosperity  depends  upon  some  baths 
which  he  himself  originally  suggested.  It  is  found,  however,  that  the 
people  who  bathe  in  the  baths  are  attacked  by  all  sorts  of  dreadful 
diseases.  The  water  is  analysed  and  is  discovered  to  be  simply 
crowded  with  poisonous  infusions,  owing  to  the  water  coming  from 
a  disease-laden  swamp,  poisoning  the  baths  at  their  source.  The 
doctor,  being  a  simple-minded  man  and  a  lover  of  truth,  and  not  a 
practical  man  and  a  lover  of  compromise,  stands  out  in  that  little 
community  as  a  great  agitator.  His  brother  is  disgusted  with  him. 
Finally  he  is  called  "  the  enemy  of  the  people."  "  The  source  is 
poisoned,  man  !  Are  you  mad?"  cries  the  doctor.  "The  whole 
of  our  flourishing  social  life  is  rooted  in  a  lie !  "  The  burgomaster 
answers,  "  Idle  fancies,  or  worse.  The  man  who  makes  such 
offensive  insinuations  against  his  native  place  must  be  an  enemy  of 
the  people  !  "  (i  Kings  xviii.  17).— Rev.  J.  E.  Rattenbury. 

THE  SAVING  POWER  OF  LOVE 

There  is  a  book  which  I  should  like  to  make  you  all  read, 
if  I  could,  written  by  that  brilliant  novelist,  Mr.  Anthony  Hope — 
the  book  that  is  called  "  The  Intrusions  of  Peggy."  It  is  the  story 
of  a  miser,  the  story  of  a  man  who  gradually  lost  his  soul  through 
the  love  of  gold,  and  the  accumulation  of  money.  He  had  a  great 
safe  in  his  room.     He  was  believed  to  be  poor,  because  he  lived  so 

62 


The  Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 

poorly,  but  in  that  safe  he  gradually  piled  up  documents  that 
entitled  him  to  property  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  and  only  one 
man  knew  how  rich  a  man  he  was.  And  there  came  into  his  home, 
and  into  his  life,  this  young  girl,  with  the  perfectly  unselfish  and 
disinterested  soul,  who  was  willing  to  give  everything  that  she 
possessed  away,  in  order  that  she  might  help  another  and  bless 
another ;  and  gradually  this  Christ-like  influence  broke  him  down 
with  shame,  melted  his  heart,  until  at  last  he  began  to  propose 
to  himself  a  veritable  crucifixion,  that  he  too  should  begin  to  live 
for  the  sake  of  others,  that  he  too  should  take  up  the  life  of  the 
Cross  in  order  that  he  might  be  saved  from  this  body  of  death 
and  know  the  meaning  of  that  life  which  is  life  indeed.  He  had 
everything,  humanly  speaking,  that  men  seek  for  most.  All  power 
was  his,  and  yet  he  had  missed  the  secret  of  life,  because  until  love 
came  into  his  very  soul,  and  he  saw  the  love  of  God  and  man,  he 
did  not  realise  what  life  means,  and  what  life  is  given  for  Qohn  x. 
lo). — Rev.  C.  Silvester  Horne,  M.A. 

"WHAT   SHALL   IT   PROFIT  A  MAN?» 

G.  F.  Watts's  great  picture  in  the  Tate  Gallery  of  the  **  Rich 
Young  Ruler"  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  this  text.  The  young 
man  who  clung  to  the  material  in  life  when  Christ  called  him  to 
embrace  the  spiritual  is  portrayed  in  this  picture — "  For  he  had 
great  possessions  " — with  singular  force.  The  head  is  bowed,  the 
face  turned  from  view,  but  Watts,  with  his  genius  for  "  expression 
in  the  back,"  imparts  a  world  of  sadness  into  the  slack,  bent 
shoulders  of  the  young  man  who  found  the  sacrifice  of  his  wealth 
too  great  even  to  save  his  soul.  An  even  grander  illustration  of 
this  text  is  to  be  found  in  Paul  Neumann's  newly  published  novel, 
•*Dominy's  Dollars.''  Dominy  is  a  young  Jew  in  the  New  York 
ghetto.  He  is  an  orphan,  cared  for  by  a  Jewish  family  from 
Poland.  Dominy  dreams  of  untold  wealth — his  goal  is  riches 
beyond  dreams  of  avarice.  The  business  instinct  of  his  race  is 
strong  in  him,  and  first  in  a  stockbroker's  office,  then  as  a  speculator 
on  options,  and  finally  as  a  buyer  of  virgin  forest  lands,  he  piles 
up  fabulous  wealth.  He  comes  to  England,  and  while  in  the 
midst  of  his  early  prosperity  with  his  dreams  within  realisation  he 
meets  again  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  Pohsh  Jew  family  who 
had  befriended   him  in  his   ghetto  days.     She   has   become  the 

63 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

greatest  operatic  singer  of  her  day.  The  world  is  at  her  feet,  but 
while  sojourning  in  Paris  with  Roman  Catholic  friends  she  had 
become  a  convert  to  Christ.  She  read  the  story  of  the  rich  young 
ruler,  and  though  she  had  the  finest  voice  in  Europe  she  came  to 
see  that  its  possession  was  her  curse,  and  that  she  should  renounce 
it.  Dominy,  who  had  loved  her  when  they  were  boy  and  girl  in 
the  ghetto,  proposes  marriage.  She  agrees — on  conditions.  She 
will  renounce  her  art  and  abandon  the  stage  if  Dominy  will 
abandon  his  ambition  to  be  the  richest  man  in  the  world.  He  is 
already  rich.  All  night  long  Dominy  wrestles  with  the  alternatives. 
On  the  one  hand  love  and  happiness  ;  on  the  other  the  possibilities 
of  untold  wealth  and  all  the  power  that  goes  with  wealth.  He 
reads  the  Gospel  story  of  Christ's  interview  with  the  rich  young 
ruler,  and  resents  what  he  thinks  was  Christ's  unjust  demand  for 
renunciation.  At  last  Dominy  decides.  He  must  pursue  his 
career — he  must  renounce  his  love.  The  opera  singer  goes  into  a 
convent.  Dominy  goes  on  piling  up  millions  upon  millions,' 
hardening  as  he  lives  his  loveless  life  and  finds  that  what  he  had 
sold  his  soul  and  his  love  to  gain  brought  neither  happiness  nor 
regard.  He  suffers  from  insomnia,  has  recourse  to  drugs  to  induce 
sleep,  becomes  physically  depressed  and  mentally  distraught. 
Driven  to  desperation,  he  seeks  change  and  rest ;  but  returns  to 
renewed  insomnia  and  depression.  Tidings  reach  him  of  the 
death  of  the  girl  whose  love  he  had  bartered  for  his  wealth.  The 
end  is  tragedy — suicide  off  the  rocks  of  Guernsey.  He  had 
gained  the  whole  world,  had  realised  his  vision  of  wealth  beyond 
dreams  of  avarice,  but  had  lost  his  own  soul  (Matt.  xvi.  26  ; 
Mark  viii.  36).— Arthur  Porritt. 

PETERKIN'S  PUDDING 
*♦  The  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating,"  says  the  proverb, 
but  there  is  a  good  deal  in  what  you  put  into  the  pudding.  People 
complain  that  religion  is  insipid,  that  they  get  little  out  of  it;  but 
what  have  they  put  into  it  ?  They  have  grudged  the  expense,  and 
yet  they  expect  the  blessing.  A  cheap  religion,  like  most  cheap 
things,  is  of  little  value.  "  Then  said  Jesus  unto  His  disciples. 
If  any  man  will  come  after  Me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  follow 
Me."  '*  Give  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you."  To  those  who  try 
to  be  Christians  on  the  cheap,  let  me  commend  Mr.  Zangwill's  tale 
of  Peterkin's  pudding. 

64 


The  Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 

"You  never  heard  of  Pcterkin's  pudding,"  says   Mr.  Zangwill, 

"  but  there  is  a  fine  moral  baked  in  it.      Johannes  came  to  his  wife 

one  day  and  said,  '  Liebes   Gretchen,  could  you  not  make  me  a 

pudding  such  as  Peterkin  is  always  boasting  his  wife  makes  him? 

I  am  dying  of  envy  to  taste  it.     Every  time  he  talks  of  it  my  chops 

water.'    '  It  is  not  impossible  I  could  make  you  one,'  said  Gretchen 

good-naturedly.      '  I  will  go  and  ask  Frau  Peterkin  how  she  makes 

it.'      When  Johannes  returned  that  evening  from  the  workshop, 

where  Peterkin  had  been  raving  more  than  ever  over  his  wife's 

pudding,  Gretchen  said  gleefully,  '  I  have  been  to  Frau  Peterkin. 

She  has  a  good   heart  and   she  gave   me   the  whole  recipe   for 

Peterkin's    pudding.'      Johannes    rubbed     his    hands,    and    his 

mouth    watered   already   with    anticipation.      '  It    is   made   with 

raisins,' began  Gretchen.     Johannes'  jaw  fell.      '  We  can  scarcely 

afford   raisins,'    he   interrupted ;  *  couldn't    you   manage    without 

raisins.'"      'Oh,  I    daresay,'   said  Gretchen    doubtfully.      'There 

is  also  candied  lemon  peel.'     Johannes  whistled.     '  Ach  !   we  can't 

run   to   that,'  he  said.      '  No,  indeed,'  assented  Gretchen  ;  '  but 

we  must  have  suet  and  yeast.'      '  I  don't  see  the  necessity,'  quoth 

Johannes.      'A  good  cook  like  you ' — here  he  gave  her  a  sounding 

kiss — '  can  get  along  without  such  trifles  as  those.'      'Well,  I  will 

try,'  said  the  good  Gretchen,  as  cheerfully  as  she  could  ;    and  so 

next   morning    Johannes  went    to   work    lighthearted    and    gay. 

When  he  returned  home,  lo  !  the  long  desired  dainty  stood  on  the 

supper  table,  beautifully  brown.     He  ran  to  embrace  his  wife  in 

gratitude   and  joy ;    then  he  tremblingly  broke   off  a   hunch  of 

pudding  and  took  a  huge  bite.     His  wife,  anxiously  watching  his 

face,  saw  it  assume  a  look  of  perplexity,  followed  by  one  of  disgust. 

Johannes  gave  a  great  snort  of  contempt.      '  Liebes  Gott  ! '    he 

cried,  'And  this  is  what  Peterkin  is  always  bragging  about!'" 

(Matt.  xvi.  24,  25  ;  also  Luke  vi.  38). 

OUR  DAILY  BREAD 
I  hope,  friend,  you  and  I  are  not  too  proud  to  ask  for  our  daily 
bread,  and  to  be  grateful  for  getting  it?  Mr.  Philip  had  to  work 
for  his  in  care  and  trouble,  like  other  children  of  men — to  work  tor 
it,  and  I  hope  to  pray  for  it  too.  It  is  a  thought  to  me  awful  and 
beautiful,  that  of  our  daily  prayer  and  of  myriads  of  fellow-men 
uttering  it,  in  care  and  in  sickness,  in  doubt  and  in  poverty,  in 
health   and  in  wealth.     Panein   nostrum  da   nobis  Jiodie.     Philip 

65  E 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

whispers  it  by  the  bedside,  where  wife  and  child  lie  sleeping,  and 
goes  to  his  early  labour  with  a  stouter  heart ;  as  he  creeps  to  his 
rest,  when  the  day's  labour  is  over,  and  the  quotidian  bread  is 
earned,  he  breathes  his  hushed  thanks  to  the  bountiful  Giver  of 
his  meal.  All  over  this  world  what  an  endless  chorus  is  singing  of 
love,  and  thanks  and  prayer  I  Day  tells  to  day  the  wondrous  story, 
and  night  recounts  it  unto  night.  How  do  I  come  to  think  of  a 
sunrise  which  I  saw  near  twenty  years  ago  on  the  Nile,  when  the 
river  and  sky  flushed  with  the  dawning  light  and,  as  the  luminary 
appeared,  the  boatmen  knelt  on  the  rosy  deck  and  adored  Allah  ? 
So,  as  the  sun  rises,  friend,  over  the  humble  housetops  round  about 
your  home,  shall  you  wake  many  and  many  a  day  to  duty  and 
labour.  May  the  task  have  been  honestly  done  when  the  night 
comes  ;  and  the  Steward  deal  kindly  with  the  labourer  (Matt  vi.  ii). 
— W.  M.  Thackeray  ("  The  Story  of  Philip  ")• 

One  incidental  gain  to  the  preacher  of  the  reading  of 
good  fiction  is  that  it  will  teach  him  the  art  of  telling  a 
story  well,  and  will  generally  liven  up  his  pulpit  style. 
The  style  of  the  preacher  whose  reading  is  mainly 
homiletical  and  theological  tends  to  a  grey  monotony. 
It  lacks  picture  words  and  vivid  phrases  that  strike  the 
hearer's  imagination  and  linger  in  his  memory.  The 
preacher,  of  all  public  speakers,  should  be  the  most 
human  and  dramatic,  for  no  speaker  deals  so  much  and 
so  directly  with  subjects  of  the  most  vital  import  to  his 
audiences.  His  theme  is  life  in  its  myriad  manifesta- 
tions— life  as  it  sinks  to  the  deepest  depths  and  rises  to 
the  loftiest  heights,  life  ruined  and  life  redeemed,  the 
thrilling  soul  dramas  of  humanity,  the  blighting  shadows 
and  the  glorious  sunshine.  All  comedy  and  all  tragedy 
are  his  to  deal  with.  He  deals  with  death  also — the 
**  death  of  the  righteous"  and  the  death  of  the  man  who 
has  "missed  the  mark."  He  deals  with  what  lies 
beyond  the  grave — at  any  rate,  he  should  be  prepared  to 

66 


The  Illustrative  Use  of  Fiction 

deal  with  "  the  four  last  things,"  though  most  preachers 
in  these  days  shrink  from  peering  beyond  the  veil.  But 
death  is  always  there,  at  the  end  of  life,  and  while  guard- 
ing against  "  other-worldliness,"  over-curious  prying  into 
the  mysteries  of  the  beyond,  the  preacher  is  bound  to 
impress  on  his  congregation  that  this  life  does  not 
last  for  ever,  that  it  is  an  opportunity  to  be  used  "while 
it  is  called  to-day,"  and  that  it  should  be  used  in  train- 
ing the  soul  for  its  future  destiny,  so  that  when  the  time 
comes  for  "  meeting  the  Pilot  face  to  face  "  there  shall 
be  no  bankrupt's  account  to  render  of  talents  wasted, 
of  suffering  brethren  unhelped,  of  nothing  done  to 
realise  the  prayer,  "Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven."  With  such  themes,  and  all  life  to  draw  upon, 
the  preacher  should  find  it  an  impossibility  to  be  dull 
and  drab,  dry  and  flavourless ;  but  too  many  congrega- 
tions know  to  their  cost  that  the  seeming  impossibility 
is  often  accomplished.  The  judicious  reader  and  user 
of  fiction  will  learn  how  to  recreate  dramatic  episodes 
of  the  Bible,  to  put  the  men  and  women  of  the  Bible 
before  the  congregation  as  they  lived  and  moved,  to 
introduce  local  colour,  and  to  make  the  congregation 
realise  that  there  is  no  more  intensely  human  and 
thrillingly  dramatic  book  in  literature  than  the  Bible. 
From  the  literature  of  imagination  and  from  his  own 
observation  and  imagination  he  will  present  striking 
parallels  to  the  Bible  characters,  for  these  characters 
stand  out  as  eternal  types  of  universal  humanity.  The 
characters  themselves  will  become  more  real  as  the 
preacher,  by  modern  illustrations,  demonstrates  the 
fidelity  of  the  portraiture  of  the  inspired  artists. 

^  E2 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   PREACHER  AMONG   THE   POETS 

The  preacher  is  wise  who  spends  much  time  in  the 
company  of    the    poets,    for    various    reasons.       His 
familiarity  with  the  poets  will  enable  him  the  better  to 
understand  the  poetical  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Much   mischief  has   been   done   by  the  dull,  prosaic, 
literal   interpretation    of    highly   poetical    expressions. 
Figures  of  speech  have   been  commented   upon,  and 
systems  based  upon  them,  as  if  they  were  statements  of 
hard  fact.     Poetry  further  gives  the  preacher  a  sense  of 
the  colour  and  music  of  words,  it  awakens  what  latent 
poetry  there  may  be  in  his  own  soul,  it  refines  his  thought 
and  expression  and  gives  wings  to  his  imagination.    The 
poets  are  themselves  preachers  and  prophets,  and  their 
method  of  preaching  is  largely  the  method  of  illustra- 
tion.    The  poet  is  often  the  seer,  the  watchman  on  the 
tower,  who  stands  above  the  crowd  and  the  dust  and 
the  noise  of  the  streets,  and  sees  and  hears  things  that 
are  invisible  and  inaudible   k)   those   engaged  in  the 
rough-and-tumble  of  the  struggle  for  existence.     He  is 
the  voice  of  the  best  thought  and  aspiration  of  the 
crowd.     Who  like  Milton  interpreted  what  was  loftiest 
and  most  enduring  in  the  Puritanism  of  the  seventeenth 
century  ?        Who    like    Wordsworth,    Tennyson    and 
Browning  interpreted  the  nineteenth  century  to  itself 

68 


The  Preacher  Among  the  Poets 

and  to  all  future  ages  ?  They  were  the  prophets  who 
purged  its  thought  of  all  that  was  vulgar,  frivolous, 
and  temporary,  and  set  to  music  what  was  noblest  and 
most  divine  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  its  deepest  and 
purest  thinkers.  The  supreme  poets  have  always  been 
deeply  religious  men,  for  only  to  the  man  whose  heart 
is  pure  comes  "  the  vision  and  the  faculty  divine  "  that 
makes  the  poet  whose  name  is  to  be  enrolled  among 
the  classics. 

Among  the  poets  the  preacher  in  search  of  illustra- 
tions will  find  rich  material,  but  it  needs  a  skilful  hand 
to  use  the  material  wisely  in  preaching.  The  preacher 
may  take  a  poem  that  is  a  story,  and  tell  the  story  in 
his  own  way.  In  Browning  and  in  Tennyson  there  are 
many  stories  that  are  really  parables,  or  easily  conver- 
tible into  parables,  on  which  the  preacher  can  lay  a 
reverent  hand.  Here,  for  instance,  is  how  one  preacher 
utilises  the  story  of  **  Enoch  Arden." 

THE  BURNT-OFFERING  AND  THE  SONG 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  things  I  know  in  Tennyson's  works  is 
the  story  of  Enoch  Arden.  The  sailor  goes  away  and  does  not 
return  for  years :  his  wife  meanwhile  marries  again  and  has 
children  ;  and  when  Enoch  Arden  comes  again  to  the  little  fish- 
ing port  he  hears  the  story  in  the  inn  from  the  garrulous  landlady, 
and  one  evening  steals  up  to  see.  He  hides  himself  in  the  gloaming, 
so  that  he  can  watch  Philip  and  the  queen  of  his  heart.  How  happy 
they  are,  and  how  Philip  takes  the  boy  upon  his  knee,  and  what 
perfect  peace  and  joy  reign  there  !  If  he  were  to  show  himself  he 
would  shatter  it  with  a  blow.  But  he  abstains,  and  after  waiting  a 
little  wistfully  he  goes  back  to  the  village  and  hides  himself ;  but 
Tennyson  says  he  was  not  all  unhappy,  but,  just  as  in  the  briny 
sea  there  are  fountains  of  pure,  sweet  water  that  rise  up  perennially, 
so  amid  the  brine  of  his  unutterable  grief  there  rose  up  joy,  pure 

69 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

aud  blessed,  that  crowned  all,  and  when  the  burnt-offering  began 
the  song  of  the  Lord  began  (2  Chron.  xxix.  27). — Rev.  Harris 
Lloyd. 

Often  the  preacher,  instead  of  taking  a  poetical 
stor}^  and  telling  it  in  his  own  way,  will  quote  a 
passage ;  and  congregations  like  such  quotations  in 
illustration  of  a  point,  if  they  are  beautiful,  well 
chosen,  and  do  really  serve  the  purpose  of  illustration. 
What  congregations  resent  is  the  tinsel  use  often  made 
of  passages  of  poetr}^  that  are  worn  threadbare  in  the 
pulpit.  Such  use  suggests  that  the  preacher  owes  all  his 
poetr\'  to  some  "  Dictionary  of  Quotations,"  or  volume 
of  ''  Elegant  Extracts,"  or  that  he  has  cut  out  and 
treasured  bits  that  he  has  found  in  other  men's  sermons. 
Poetr\-  is  not  to  be  used  just  as  ribbons  and  rosettes  to 
decorate  the  preacher's  prose,  but  must  be  used  with 
taste  and  intelligence,  for  the  definite  purpose  of  lighting 
up  a  point  and  commending  it  by  the  poet's  perfect  illus- 
tration of  the  truth  in  his  own  way.  It  often  happens 
that  a  poet  gives  us  his  own  rendering  of  an  incident  or  a 
passage  of  Scripture,  and  the  preacher  dealing  with  that 
incident  or  passage  can  make  very  effective  use  of  the 
poem.  Tennyson,  for  instance,  in  "In  Memoriam,"  makes 
exquisite  use  of  the  Bible,  in  a  poem  that  is  itself  a 
theology  of  Christian  consolation.  John's  doctrine  of 
the  "  Word  "  is  put  in  stanzas  which  teach  that  God, 
in  His  infinite  condescension,  reveals  Himself  to 
humanity  by  an  incarnate  illustration  of  His  love. 

**  For  Wiidoni  dealt  with  mortal  powers, 
Where  truth  in  closest  words  shall  fail 
WTien  truth  embodied  in  a  tale 
Shall  enter  m  at  lowly  doors. 


The  Preacher  Among  the  Poets 

**  And  so  the  Word  had  breath,  and  wrought 
With  human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds 
In  loveHness  of  perfect  deeds, 
More  strong  than  all  poetic  thought ; 

"  Which  he  may  read  that  binds  the  sheaf, 
Or  builds  the  house,  or  digs  the  grave, 
And  those  wild  eyes  that  watch  the  wave 
In  roarings  round  the  coral  reef"  (John  i.  i). 

A  few  sections  earlier,  in  "  In  Memoriam,"  we  have  a 

lovely  imaginative  representation  of  the  return  to  his 

sister's  house  of  Lazarus,  after  his   calling  from   the 

tomb  : — 

**  When  Lazarus  left  his  chamel  cave. 
And  home  to  Mary's  house  return'd, 
Was  this  demanded — if  he  yeam'd 
To  hear  her  weeping  by  his  grave  ? 

"  *  Where  wert  thou,  brother,  those  four  days  ?  * 
There  lives  no  record  of  reply, 
Which  telling  what  it  is  to  die 
Had  surely  added  praise  to  praise. 

•*  From  every  house  the  neighbours  met. 
The  streets  were  fill'd  with  joyful  sound, 
A  solemn  gladness  even  crovvn'd 
The  purple  brows  of  Olivet. 
•*  Behold  a  man  raised  up  by  Christ! 
The  rest  remaineth  unreveal'd  ; 
He  told  it  not ;  or  something  seal'd 
The  lips  of  that  Evangelist  "  (John  xii.  2). 

Illustrations  of  Scripture  passages  or   incidents   by 
other  poets  follow : — 

"At  the  Devil's  booth  are  all  things  sold, 

Each  ounce  of  dross  costs  its  ounce  of  gold  ; 
For  a  cap  and  bells  our  lives  we  pay, 

Bubbles  we  buy  with  a  whole  soul's  tasking : 
*Tis  Heaven  alone  that  is  given  away, 

'Tis  only  God  may  be  had  for  the  asking." 

(Isa.  Iv.  I,  2). — Lowell. 

71 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

**  She  sat  and  wept,  and  with  her  untressed  hair 
Still  wiped  the  feet  she  was  so  blest  to  touch ; 
And  He  wiped  off  the  soiling  of  despair 

From  her  sweet  soul,  because  she  loved  so  much. 
I  am  a  sinner,  full  of  doubts  and  fears  : 
Make  me  a  humble  thing  of  love  and  tears." 

(John  xii.  3). — Hartley  Coleridge. 

•*  Speak  low  to  me,  my  Saviour,  low  and  sweet 
From  out  the  hallelujahs,  sweet  and  low, 
Lest  I  should  fear  and  fall,  and  miss  Thee  so 
Who  art  not  missed  by  any  that  entreat — 
Speak  to  me  as  to  Mary  at  Thy  feet." 

(Luke  X.  3,  9). — Mrs.  Browning. 

•*The  Saviour  looked  on  Peter.     Ay,  no  word — 
No  gesture  of  reproach  !  The  heavens  serene, 
Though  heavy  with  armed  justice,  did  not  lean 
Their  thunders  that  way.     The  forsaken  Lord 
Looked  only,  on  the  traitor.     .     .     . 
.  .  •  •  • 

**  I  think  that  look  of  Christ  might  seem  to  say — 
'  Thou  Peter  !  art  thou  then  a  common  stone 
Which  I  at  last  must  break  My  heart  upon. 
For  all  God's  charge  to  His  high  angels  may 
Guard  My  foot  better  ?     Did  I  yesterday 

Wash  thy  feet,  My  beloved,  that  they  should  run 
Quick  to  deny  Me  'neath  the  morning  sun — 
And  do  thy  kisses,  like  the  rest,  betray  ?  ' " 

(Luke  xxii.  61). — MRS.  BROWNING. 

CONSCIENCE    MAKES    COWARDS 

As  they  looked  at  that  Face,  which  man  was  bound  to  honour 
and  woman  instinctively  to  trust,  they  slunk  out  like  whipped  curs. 
For  "  conscience  doth  make  cowards  of  us  all."  The  oldest,  with 
the  largest  list  of  sins,  led  the  way  in  their  retreat.  The  long  robes 
and  broad  phylacteries  did  not  look  quite  so  imposing  as  when 
they  first  arrived.  These  men  came  to  judge  another.  They  left 
self-condemned. 

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The  Preacher  Among  the  Poets 

**  Her  hands  were  clasped  downwards  and  doubled ; 

Her  head  was  held  down  and  depressed  ; 
Her  bosom,  like  white  billows  troubled, 

Fell  fitful  and  rose  in  unrest. 
Her  robes  are  all  dust  and  disordered  ; 

Her  glory  of  hair  and  her  brow ; 
Her  face  that  had  lifted  and  lorded 

Fell  pallid  and  passionless  now. 

"  All  crushed  and  stone-cast  in  behaviour, 

She  stood  as  a  marble  would  stand. 
For  the  Saviour  bent  down,  and  the  Saviour 

In  silence  He  wrote  on  the  sand. 
What  wrote  He .''     How  fondly  one  lingers, 

And  questions  what  holy  command 
Fell  down  from  the  beautiful  fingers 

Of  Jesus  like  gems  in  the  sand. 

"  O  better  that  Homer  uncherished, 
Had  died,  ere  a  note  or  device 
Of  his  poems  was  fashioned,  than  perished 

The  only  line  written  by  Christ. 
And  He  said, '  She  hath  sinned  ;  let  the  blameless 

Come  forward  and  cast  the  first  stone ' ; 
But  they,  they  fled  shamed  and  yet  shameless, 
And  she,  she  stood  white  and  alone." 

(John  viii.  9). — Dr.  F.  W.  Aveling. 

Robert  Browning  is  perhaps  the  most  frequently  used 
poet  in  the  pulpit,  not  so  much  because  of  his  poetical 
presentation  of  Scripture  incidents  and  portrayal  of 
characters,  as  because  of  his  rare  imaginative  use  of  the 
incidents  and  characters  to  express  his  own  religious 
ideas,  which  were  pre-eminently  the  most  progressive 
ideas  of  his  time. 

Browning  grapples  v^ith  all  the  problems  of  the  age 
of  science  and  criticism,  and  maintains  his  unshaken 
hold  of  Christ  as  the  Light  and  Life  of  the  world.     In 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

**A  Death  in  the  Desert,"  for  instance,  he  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  the  dying  apostle  John  : — 

•*  For  life,  with  all  it  yields  of  joy  and  woe 

And  hope  and  fear, — believe  the  ayed  friend, — 
Is  just  our  chance  o'  the  prize  of  learning  love, 
How  love  might  bo,  hath  been  indeed,  and  is  ; 
And  that  we  hold  thenceforth  to  the  uttermost 
Such  prize  despite  the  envy  of  the  world, 
And,  having  gained  truth,  keep  truth  :  that  is  all. 

•  •  •  •  • 

*  I  say,  the  acknowledgment  of  Clod  in  Christ 
Accepted  by  thy  reason,  solves  for  thee 
All  questions  in  the  earth  and  out  of  it, 
And  has  so  far  advanced  thee  to  be  wise." 

(i  John  ii.  35). 

Some  of  Browning's  poems  that  are  not  directly 
religious  liaVe  yet  an  effective  religious  application  as 
illustrations.  What  better  illustration  is  there  of  the 
injunction,  "  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it 
with  thy  might,"  than  that  of  the  Renaissance  scholar, 
who  devoted  his  life  to  the  clearing  up  of  the  mysteries 
of  Greek  grammar.  He  dies  half  blind,  racked  with 
cough,  worn  out ;  but  he  had  set  himself  a  task  to  do, 
and  he  did  it  with  a  single  eye  and  a  steady  hand,  until 
death  overtook  him,  and  his  disciples  bore  him  to  a 
iitting  grave  on  a  mountain  top. 

**  That  low  man  seeks  a  little  thing  to  do, 
Sees  it  and  does  it : 

This  high  man,  with  a  great  thing  to  pursu^ 

Dies  ere  he  knows  it 
That  low  man  goes  on  adding  one  by  onCt 

His  hundred's  soon  hit : 
This  high  man,  aiming  at  a  million, 

blisses  an  unit. 

74 


The  Preacher  Among  the  Poets 

That,  has  the  world  here — should  he  need  the  next, 

Let  the  world  mind  him  ! 
This,  throws  himself  on  God,  and  imperplexed 

Seeking  shall  find  him." 

(Eccles.  ix.  lo). 

In  "The  Patriot"  Browning  shows  how  true  to  life 
was  the  fickleness  of  the  crowd  that  shouted  *'  Hosanna! " 
to  Jesus  on  the  Sunday,  and  howled  "  Crucify  Him  !  " 
on  the  following  Friday.  I  quote  the  first,  second,  and 
last  two  of  the  six  stanzas  : — 

"  It  was  roses,  roses,  all  the  way. 

With  mjTtle  mixed  in  my  path  like  mad  : 
The  house-roofs  seemed  to  heave  and  sway. 

The  church-spires  flamed,  such  flags  they  had 
A  year  ago  on  this  very  day. 

*'  The  air  broke  into  a  mist  with  bells, 

The  old  walls  rocked  with  the  crowd  and  cries. 
Had  I  said,  '  Good  folk,  mere  noise  repels — 
But  give  me  your  sun  from  yonder  skies  ! ' 
They  had  answered,  '  And  afterward,  what  else  ?  * 

**  I  go  in  the  rain,  and,  more  than  needs, 
A  rope  cuts  both  my  \^Tists  behind  ; 
And  I  think,  by  the  feel,  my  forehead  bleeds. 

For  they  fling,  whoever  has  a  mind. 
Stones  at  me  for  my  year's  misdeeds. 

"  Thus  I  entered,  and  thus  I  go  ! 

In  triumphs,  people  have  dropped  down  dead. 
*  Paid  by  the  world,  what  dost  thou  owe 

Me? ' — God  might  question  ;  now  instead, 
'Tis  God  shall  repay  :  I  am  safer  so." 

(^latt.  XX.  8,  9  ;  also  Matt,  xxvii.  20 — 22). 

"  The  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding  " 
is  perfectly  illustrated  in  a  stanza  of  one  of  Keble's 
poems  in  "  The   Christian  Year  ' — a  stanza  that,  to 

75 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

borrow  a  phrase  of  Dr.  Maclaren,  is  "  like  a  handful  of 
snow  pressed  on  a  fevered  brow." 

"There  are  in  this  loud  stunning  tide 
Of  human  care  and  crime, 
With  whom  the  melodies  abide 

Of  the  everlasting  chime  ; 
Who  carry  music  in  their  heart 
Through  dusky  lane  and  wrangling  mart, 
Plying  their  daily  task  with  busier  feet, 
Because  their  secret  souls  a  holy  strain  repeat." 

(Phil.  iv.  7). 

Shakespeare,  who  was  a  diligent  Bible  reader,  will 
often  give  the  preacher  a  telling  illustration.  He  was  a 
student  of  the  human  heart  who  has  never  been  excelled 
outside  the  inspired  Bible  writers  for  knowledge  of  its 
most  secret  and  subtle  workings.  His  best  plays  are 
dramatic  sermons  —  **  Macbeth  "  against  ambition, 
"King  Lear"  against  unfilial  behaviour,  *' Othello" 
against  base  passion  and  treachery  in  lago,  and 
against  jealousy  in  the  Moorish  hero.  The  workings 
of  a  guilty  accusing  conscience  have  never  been  pictured 
so  realistically  as  by  Shakespeare.  Macbeth's  "  Duncan 
hath  murdered  sleep,"  and  Lady  Macbeth's  hopeless 
attempt  to  wash  the  invisible  bloodstains  from  her 
hands,  show  how  true  it  is  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is 
death  "  (Rom.  vi.  23).  Shakespeare  is  very  rich  in  the 
poetical  presentation  of  eternal  ethics.  Here  are  two 
examples  of  how  Dr.  Gore,  the  Bishop  of  Birmingham, 
presses  Shakespeare  into  use  : — 

NO  "INDEPENDENCE"  OF  GOD 

Independence  of  God  in  any  part  of  our  being,  in  any  faculty, 
in  any  capacity,  in  any  enterprise — is,  of  all  the  silly  delusions 

76 


The  Preacher  Among  the  Poets 

which  have  ever  visited  the  imagination  of  man,  the  silliest  and 
the  most  false.  You  know  how  Shakespeare  put  the  truth  in  lines 
so  solemn  and  so  searching  : 

**  Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  themselves  ;  for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  'twere  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not.    Spirits  are  not  finely  touch'd, 
But  to  fine  issues  ;  nor  Nature  never  lends 
The  smallest  scruple  of  her  excellence, 
But  like  a  thrifty  goddess  she  determines 
Herself  the  glory  of  a  creditor — 
Both  thanks  and  use  "  (Matt.  xxv.  i8). 


SIN   AND   CONSCIENCE 

We  must  see  clearly  in  the  page  of  history  from  generation  to 
generation  what  sin  really  means  to  man;  we  must  see,  we  must 
recognise  clearly  and  distinctly  in  the  page  of  literature,  as  well  as 
in  our  own  experience,  what  sin  means  to  man  in  the  light  of  con- 
science. You  remember,  do  you  not .''  the  way  in  which  this  is 
brought  before  us  by  Shakespeare  in  "Richard  III."  It  is  the 
night  before  Bosworth  Field ;  Richard  is  alone  in  his  tent,  and 
thus  he  soliloquises  : 

"  My  conscience  hath  a  thousand  several  tongues  ; 
And  every  tongue  brings  in  a  several  tale, 
And  every  tale  proclaims  me  for  a  villain, 
Perjury,  perjury,  in  the  high'st  degree, 
Murder,  stern  murder,  in  the  dir'st  degree  ; 
All  several  sins  .  .  . 

Throng  to  the  bar,  crying  all.  Guilty,  guilty  ! 
•  •  •  •  • 

Methought  the  souls  of  all  that  I  had  murder*d 
Came  to  my  tent,  and  every  one  did  threat 
To-morrow's  vengeance  on  the  head  of  Richard." 

(Gen.  iv.  13). 

Sometimes  a  little-known  poet  rewards  the  preacher 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

with  an  unfamiliar  illustration  that  the  congregation 
will  not  easily  forget.    Take  these  examples  : — 

JOHN   BROWN   AND   THE   REDEEMING  KISS 

It  is  a  peril,  it  is  a  temptation  to  enthusiasts,  that  they  are  often 
stung  by  pity  into  a  rage  which  leads  them  to  use  rash  words  and 
to  adopt  indefensible  methods.  Among  such  men  was  John  Brown 
of  Ossawatomie,  who  was  bargee  at  Harper's  Ferry.  He  had 
indeed  used  violent  means  to  encompass  hallowed  ends,  but  for  all 
that  he  will,  even  from  his  gibbet,  take  his  place  among  brave  souls 
who,  believing  that  God  is  God,  trample  wicked  laws  under  their 
feet.    You  know  the  touching  incident  of  his  execution : 

"John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie 
Spake  on  his  dying  day, 
*I  will  not  have  to  shrive  my  soul 
A  priest  in  slavery's  pay. 
But  let  some  poor  slave  mother 
Whom  I  have  striven  to  free, 
With  her  children,  from  the  gallows  stairs 
Put  up  a  prayer  for  me.' 
John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie, 
They  led  him  out  to  die. 
And  lo  !  a  poor  slave  mother  with 
Her  little  child  passed  by. 
Then  the  bold  blue  eye  grew  tender 
And  the  old  harsh  face  grew  mild, 
As  he  stooped  between  the  jeering  ranks 
And  kissed  the  negro's  child. 
The  shadows  of  his  stormy  life 
That  moment  fell  apart, 
And  they  who  blamed  the  bloodstained  hand 
Forgave  the  loving  heart ; 
That  kiss  from  all  the  guilty  means 
Redeemed  the  good  intent, 
And  round  the  grisly  fighter's  hair 
The  martyr's  aureole  bent." 

(Rom.  xii.  ii). — Dean  Farrar. 

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The  Preacher  Among  the  Poets 

Here  is  a  little  poem  called  "  Opportunity,"  by  an 
American  minor  poet,  E.  R.  Sill.  It  pictures  admir- 
ably what  one  man  can  do  who  is  only  courageous 
enough  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  do  it. 

THE   PRINCE  HERO 

•*  This  I  beheld,  or  dreamed  ft  m  a  dream  :^— 
There  spread  a  cloud  of  dust  along  a  plain  ; 
And  underneath  the  cloud,  or  in  it,  raged 
A  furious  battle,  and  men  yelled,  and  swords 
Shocked  upon  swords  and  shields.     A  prince's  banner 
Wavered,  then  staggered  backward,  hemmed  by  foes. 
A  craven  hung  along  the  battle's  edge, 
And  thought,  'Had  I  a  sword  of  keener  steel — 
That  blue  blade  that  the  king's  son  bears, — but  this 
Blunt  thing — ! '  he  snapt  and  flung  it  from  his  hand, 
And  cowering  crept  away  and  left  the  field. 

*^Then  came  the  king's  son,  wounded,  sore  bestead, 
And  weaponless,  and  saw  the  broken  sword, 
Hnt  buried  in  the  dry  and  trodden  sand. 
And  ran  and  snatched  it,  and  with  battle  shout 
Lifted  afresh,  he  hewed  his  enemy  down. 
And  saved  a  great  cause  that  heroic  day"  (Eph.  vi.  17). 

With  two  other  illustrations  from  the  poets,  one  a 
modern  -  day  writer  who  has  revived  the  mystery 
play,  this  chapter  must  conclude. 

BURDENS  CHANGED  TO  WINGS 

In  one  of  Schiller's  poems  a  beautiful  story  is  told  to  this  effect : 
When  God  made  the  birds  He  gave  them  gorgeous  plumage  and 
sweet  voices,  but  no  wings.  He  laid  wings  on  the  ground  and  said, 
"  Take  these  burdens,  and  bear  them."  They  struggled  along  with 
them,  folding  them  over  their  hearts.  Presently  the  wings  grew 
fast  to  their  breasts  and  spread  themselves  out,  and  they  found 
that  what  they  had  thought  were  burdens  were  changed  to  pinions. 

79 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Surrender  to  God  and  obedience  to  Him  are  not  grievous  sacrifices, 
but    life   and    growth    and    activity    (Isa.    xl.    31).  —  Dr.  A.  T. 

PlERSON. 

EAGER  HEART 

Some  of  us  have  been  watching  within  the  course  of  the  last 
month  or  two  a  beautiful  Christmas  mystery  play,  which  was  called 
"  Eager  Heart."  I  am  thankful  to  think  that  that  play,  which 
moved  some  of  us  at  this  end  of  London  to  tears,  has  been  since 
then  performed  in  the  heart  of  East  London,  and,  please  God, 
has  brought  home  the  message  of  Christmas  through  the  eye 
to  thousands  who  perhaps  would  not  have  accepted  it  through 
the  ear. 

When  Eager  Heart  had  prepared  her  dwelling  for  the  coming  of 
the  king  on  that  wonderful  night  when  he  was  expected  to  pass 
through  the  town,  she  saw  at  her  door  a  poor  tired  woodman  and 
his  wife  and  a  little  child.  They  begged  to  be  taken  in.  But  poor 
Eager  Heart  had  the  lamp  there,  and  the  food,  and  the  couch  pre- 
pared for  someone  else.  "  Oh  !  not  to-night,  not  to-night — any 
night  but  to-night  !  "  "  Ah  !  "  they  said,  "but  everyone  says  that ; 
wherever  we  go  that  is  the  answer."  After  a  struggle  with  herself, 
the  little  generous  soul  gives  up  her  dream.  "  My  dream,"  she  said, 
"  my  foolish  dream  !  Come  in  and  rest  in  my  home."  She  goes 
out  with  the  lamp  to  try  and  meet  the  king  outside.  She  meets  the 
shepherds,  she  meets  three  kings  looking  also  for  the  King  of  kings. 
And  when,  led  by  the  Christmas  star,  she  comes  round  again  in  her 
search  to  her  own  little  humble  dwelling,  "  Nay,  sirs,"  she  said,  "  it 
is  impossible.  This  is  my  little  home  ;  my  humble  home."  And 
when  they  persisted,  when  they  said  "  It  must  be  ;  the  King  must 
be  here,"  and  the  door  was  thrown  open,  there  in  a  blaze  of  light 
woodman  and  wife  and  child  were  transfigured,  there  was  the 
Infant  King  on  her  couch,  and  in  her  home.  What  a  surprise  ! 
(Heb.  xiii.  2, ;  also  Luke  ii.  7).— Dr.  A.  F.  Winnington-Ingram. 


80 


CHAPTER  VI 

ILLUSTRATION    OF   ADDRESSES   TO    CHILDREN 

The  Sunday  morning  address  to  the  children  is 
expected  in  many  churches,  but  it  often  happens  that 
the  preacher,  with  the  best  will  in  the  world,  fails  to 
interest  the  childrt-n.  Children  need  to  be  understood 
before  they  can  be  interested,  and  the  deliverer  of  the 
children's  address  must  understand  the  workings  of  the 
child's  mind,  and  the  child's  outlook  upon  life.  He 
must  *'  be  converted  and  become  as  a  little  child  "  if  he 
would  captivate  the  boys  and  girls,  in  the  seven  or  ten 
minutes  which  he  devotes  to  the  address.  Too  often 
the  preacher,  w^ho  is  successful  enough  with  the  con- 
gregation as  a  whole,  has  forgotten  his  own  childhood, 
and  even  the  fact  that  he  is  a  father  does  not  always 
save  him  from  talking  to  the  children  as  if  they  were 
grown-up  people  in  knickerbockers  and  short  frocks. 
To  be  successful  wath  the  children,  you  must  be  able, 
for  the  time  being,  to  look  at  the  world  through  a  child's 
eyes.  You  must  clearly  understand  that  the  children 
are  interested  in  things,  in  sights  and  sounds,  and  not  in 
thoughts,  theologies  and  philosophies.  Whatever  lesson 
you  wish  to  impress  must  be  dramatised.  Illustration, 
and  plenty  of  it,  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  children's 
address,  and  the  illustration  must  be  such  as  children 
will  be  naturally  interested  in.  One  Sunday  morning  a 
small  boy  plucked  his  father's  sleeve,  while  the  children's 

8i  F 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

address  was  being  delivered,  and  said,  '*  Daddy,  there 
are  twenty-five  people  in  the  choir.  I  have  just 
counted  them  !  "  That  was  a  most  damaging  criticism, 
which  the  deliverers  of  children's  addresses  will  do  well 
to  take  to  heart.  A  little  girl,  who  was  asked  by  the 
minister,  at  dinner  with  her  parents,  what  she  remem- 
bered of  the  sermon,  said  frankly,  but  brutally,  "I  don't 
remember  anything.     I  didn't  listen.     I  never  do." 

Children  have  a  wonderful  capacity  for  not  listening 
and  thinking  of  something  else,  and  the  world,  as 
R.  L.  Stevenson  said,  **  is  full  of  a  number  of  things" 
for  children  to  think  about  when  they  are  not  being 
interested.  The  child  is  a  born  poet  and  dramatist. 
Everything  is  new  and  wonderful  and  everything  is 
seen  in  the  mystic  light  of  fairyland.  The  child  makes 
believe,  and  its  make-believe  is  often  more  real  to  it 
than  the  realities  of  life  are  to  its  elders.  The  preacher 
who  addresses  children  must  take  into  account  the 
poet  and  the  dramatist  in  the  child.  Children  believe 
in  fairies,  and  a  fairy-story  often  makes  a  good  lead 
off  CO  a  children's  address.  At  "  Once  upon  a  time  " 
they  prick  their  ears,  and  fix  their  eyes  upon  the  pulpit, 
and  the  preacher  who  can  tell  a  fairy-story  with  con- 
viction and  dramatic  effect  has  captured  his  youthful 
audience.  As  examples  of  fairy-tale  openings  of 
children's  addresses  take  those  that  follow : — 

THE   CONTENTED    HEART 

A  Japanese  fairy-tale  tells  how  a  man  who  was  poor,  and  had  to 
work  very  hard,  heard  of  a  Land  of  Everlasting  Felicity,  where 
people  had  no  illness,  no  poverty,  and  did  not  die.  He  wished 
greatly  that  he  might  find  his  way  to  that  land,  and  one  day  there 

82 


Illustration  of  Addresses  xo  Children 

appeared  a  magician  who  told  him  he  would  give  him  one  wish, 
and  his  wish  was  that  the  magician  should  convey  him  to  the  Land 
of  Everlasting  Felicity.  The  magician  produced  a  paper  bird,  a 
stork,  which  he  unfolded,  and  told  the  man  to  get  astride  its  back 
as  if  it  were  a  horse.  He  did  so,  and  the  stork  flew  upwards  and 
then  swiftly  carried  the  man  over  land  and  sea  until  he  came  to 
the  Land  of  Everlasting  Felicity.  For  a  few  years  he  lived  there 
contentedly,  but  then  he  began  to  grow  discontented,  for  it  seemed 
dreadfully  wearying  to  have  summer  all  the  year  round,  to 
have  always  flowers  and  fruit,  and  the  fact  that  there  was  no 
anxiety  about  sickness  and  about  poverty  only  robbed  his  enjoy- 
ment of  the  good  things  of  life  of  their  zest.  At  the  end  of  a 
hundred  years  or  so,  the  man,  like  all  the  other  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  was  bored  to  death,  and  wished  that  something  would 
happen  to  bring  a  little  variety  into  the  life.  When  a  quack 
doctor  came  into  the  country  and  sold  some  pills  that  gave  people 
a  little  pain  in  the  inside,  and  caused  their  hair  to  turn  slightly 
grey,  he  did  a  roaring  trade.  The  man  longed  at  last  to  go  back 
to  Japan,  and  was  delighted  when  he  woke  up  and  found  it  was  all 
a  dream  !  The  story  has  a  moral  which  a  good  many  small 
people,  as  well  as  big  people,  would  do  well  to  take  to  heart. 
Don't  let  us  always  be  complaining  because  we  have  not  every- 
thing that  we  should  like  to  have.  The  great  advantage  of  not 
having  things  is  that  we  enjoy  all  the  more  the  things  that  we 
have.  If  there  were  no  winter,  we  should  get  no  pleasure  out  of 
spring  or  summer.  If  we  did  no  work,  there  would  be  no  fu.  in 
holidays.  Even  sickness  makes  health  ever  so  much  more  delightful 
when  we  get  about  again.  Do  not  let  us  think  the  world  is  all 
wrong  because  God  does  not  let  us  have  our  own  way  in  every- 
thing. The  world  is  God's  school,  and  the  difficulties,  the  hard- 
ships, the  pains  of  life,  are  God's  means  of  training  us  and  making 
our  character  robust  as  the  oak  that  has  braved  the  storms  of  the 
winters  of  a  hundred  years.  Let  us  take  the  good  that  God  gives 
us  with  a  thankful  heart,  and  have  faith  to  believe  that  many  things 
that  seem  evils  are  God's  good  things  in  disguise  (Phil.  iv.  ii). — 
H.  Jeffs. 

THE  JUGGLER'S   OFFERING 

A  beautiful  story  of  the  Middle  Ages  has   been  retold  by  a 
French  writer.    There  was  a  juggler  who  went  about  to  fairs, 

83  F  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

carrying  with  him  a  mat  and  the  metal  balls  and  other  things  that 
he  juggled  with.  He  lived  a  hard  life,  and  when  he  began  to  grow 
old,  he  turned  his  thoughts  more  and  more  to  religion.  At  that 
time  the  only  religion  was  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  it 
was  believed  that  the  best  thing  a  man  could  do  was  to  enter  a 
convent  and  live  what  was  called  the  religious  life.  One  day  the 
juggler  met  a  monk  and  told  him  of  his  desire  to  enter  a  convent. 
The  monk  took  him  to  his  own  convent,  where  the  juggler  was 
received  and  became  a  monk  himself.  He  found  that  the  other 
monks  were  all  busy  on  some  work  or  other  for  the  glory  of  God. 
One  would  be  illuminating  manuscripts  of  the  Scriptures  or  lives 
of  the  saints  with  beautiful  pictures.  Another  would  be  engaged 
in  carving  exquisitely  beautiful  woodwork.  Others  would  be 
creating  glorious  stained-glass  windows,  and  so  on.  The  poor 
juggler  could  do  none  of  these  things,  and  he  was  ashamed  and 
humbled.  One  day,  however,  the  juggler  was  missed  when  the 
abbot  wanted  to  speak  to  him.  Somebody  said  they  had  seen  him 
go  into  the  chapel  in  which  was  the  statue  of  Mary,  the  mother  of 
Jesus.  The  abbot  made  his  way  to  the  chapel,  and  was  astonished 
at  what  he  saw  there.  On  the  floor,  before  the  statue  of  Mary,  the 
juggler  had  spread  his  strip  of  carpet,  was  lying  down  upon  it  on 
his  back,  and  with  his  hands'  and  his  feet  was  tossing  his  metal 
balls  with  the  greatest  skill  that  he  had  ever  shown  at  any  fair  in 
his  best  days.  The  abbot  was  very  cross  at  what  he  considered 
such  very  irreverent  behaviour,  and  was  just  about  to  call  out  in 
angry  tones  to  the  juggler-monk  to  rise  and  leave  the  chapel,  when 
the  statue  of  Mary  seemed  to  become  alive,  stepped  down  from  its 
place,  descended  the  steps  to  where  the  juggler  was  tossing  his 
balls,  and  the  statue,  taking  the  mantle  of  purple  and  gold  from 
its  shoulders,  cast  it  over  the  juggler  as  a  sign  that  what  he  had 
done  was  accepted.  He  had  done  the  best  that  he  could  do, 
the  one  thing  that  he  could  do  better  than  anyone  else,  and  the 
lesson,  of  course,  to  all  of  us,  is  that  we  should  do  what  we 
can,  and  do  it  as  well  as  we  can,  and  God  will  accept  our  best 
(Mark  xiv.  8).— H.  JEFFS. 

THE  MAN  WITH  THE  STONE  HEART 

Years  ago  in  a  German  fairy-book  I  read  a  story  of  "  The  Man 
with  a  Stone  Heart."     A  charcoal  burner  in  a  great  forest  was 

84 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

very,  ery  poor.  He  had  a  kind  heart,  however,  full  of  love  for 
others,  and  he  won  the  love  of  others  in  return.  Sometimes  he 
wished  that  he  were  richer  that  he  might  be  able  to  get  a  little  more 
enjoyment  out  of  life  for  himself,  and  for  those  dependent  on  him.. 
One  day,  while  alone  in  the  forest,  underneath  a  fir  tree,  a  queer 
little  old  man  appeared  to  him  and  got  into  conversation.  The 
old  man  told  him  at  last  that  he  could  and  would  make  him  rich  on 
one  condition.  When  the  charcoal  burner  asked  what  the  condition 
was,  the  old  man  said,  "  You  must  give  me  your  heart  of  flesh  for 
a  heart  of  stone  that  I  have."  The  charcoal  burner  did  not  like 
the  condition,  but  the  old  man,  who  was  a  gnome,  and  lived  in  a 
cave  under  the  wood,  persuaded  him  to  go  to  the  cave,  and  there 
showed  him  the  stone  heart,  which  was  wonderfully  constructed 
and  beat  as  naturally  as  a  real  heart  of  flesh.  He  persuaded  the 
charcoal  burner  at  last  to  strike  the  bargain.  He  put  the  poor  man 
into  a  deep  sleep  and  when  he  woke  up  he  found  that  he  had  got  a 
heart  of  stone.  It  worked  beautifully,  but  it  seemed  very  cold 
within  him.  When  he  got  home  a  great  change  had  come  over 
him.  He  spoke  harshly,  he  thought  only  of  himself,  he  was  unkind 
toothers.  Instead  of  thinking  that  the  chief  thing  worth  having 
was  the  love  of  dear  ones,  he  thought  only  of  getting  money.  And 
he  did  get  money.  Everj'thing  he  touched  seemed  to  turn  to  gold. 
He  became  richer  and  richer,  but  somehow  his  riches  brought  him 
no  joy.  The  more  he  had  the  more  he  wanted.  He  had  no  friends 
and  did  not  seem  to  want  any.  The  heart  seemed  to  get  colder  and 
colder  within  him.  At  last,  when  age  crept  upon  him,  all  the  joy 
seemed  to  have  gone  out  of  his  life.  One  day  he  began  to  think  of 
the  days  when  he  was  poor,  and  the  more  he  thought  the  more  he 
began  to  think  that  those  were  his  best  days.  The  story  tells  how 
at  last  he  got  rid  of  the  stone  heart  and  regained  his  heart  of  flesh, 
and  though  he  became  poor  again  he  got  love  back  again  into  his 
life  and  happiness  that  his  prosperity  had  failed  to  give.  That 
story  is  a  parable.  There  are  men  with  stone  hearts  going  about 
to-day,  and  it  would  pay  them  to  sacrifice  all  the  riches  they  possess 
to  exchange  their  hearts  of  stone  for  hearts  of  flesh.  Let  the  boys 
and  girls  here,  when  they  grow  up,  take  care  to  keep  the  heart 
warm  and  tender.  The  way  to  keep  it  so  is  to  let  Jesus  come  into 
it  and  make  it  His  home  (i  John  iv.  7). — H.  Jeffs. 

The  child,  as  has  been  said,   takes  an   interest  in 

83 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

things,  and  especially  in  things  that  are  alive,  whether 
belonging  to  the  animal  or  the  vegetable  world.  If  the 
preacher  is  interested  in  gardening  and  is  a  student  of 
the  fields  and  of  the  woods,  he  can  get  a  good  address 
out  of  an  account  of  the  characteristics  and  the  ways  of 
some  plant  or  flower  or  vegetable.  Plants,  flowers  and 
vegetables  have  characters  of  their  own,  and  the  ways 
of  their  growth  and  their  general  behaviour  appeal  to 
the  child  mind.  The  popularity  of  books  published 
during  the  last  few  years,  dealing  in  simple  and 
picturesque  fashion  with  the  life  of  the  garden,  the  field, 
the  wood  and  the  water,  is  largely  due  to  the  interest  of 
young  folks  in  things  that  grow.  Every  child,  of  course, 
is  interested  in  animals,  both  tame  and  wild,  and  no 
home  is  without  its  four-footed  or  two-footed  pets  in 
the  way  of  animals  or  birds.  There  is  "  a  lot  of  human 
nature  "  in  animals  or  birds,  as  Louis  Wain  has  shown 
in  his  pictures,  and  the  child  will  always  listen  to  the 
speaker  who  knows  how  to  press  natural  history  into 
the  service  of  illustrating  his  addresses. 

JEsopf  had  he  been  a  modern  Christian  minister,  would 
have  been  magnificent  in  addresses  to  children  ;  but  there 
is  no  reason  why  every  preacher  should  not  be  his  own 
-^sop. 

The  speaker  to  children  should  not  use  dictionary 
words,  and  he  should  not  choose  subjects  that  cannot 
be  dealt  with  without  the  use  of  dictionary  words. 
He  must  limit  himself  to  the  vocabulary  of  children,  or 
he  will  soon  find  that  his  words  are  falling  on  deaf  ears. 
Nothing  is  more  tragi-comic  than  the  spectacle  of  a 
preacher  endeavouring  to  make  himself  simple  to  the 

86 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

children  and  unconsciously  using  words  and  phrases 
that  are  as  foreign  to  the  average  boy  or  girl  in  the  con- 
gregation as  would  be  French  or  German  words  or 
phrases  used  without  translation.  The  language  of  the 
children  is  the  homeliest  Anglo-Saxon,  the  words  of  the 
mother-tongue  pure  and  undefiled,  without  mixture  of 
the  words  invented  to  express  the  conceptions  of  the 
theologian  and  the  philosopher.  The  child  is  interested 
in  the  concrete,  and  not  in  the  abstract.  The  dictionary 
words,  the  words  expressive  of  the  results  of  reflection, 
will  come  to  the  child  when  he  is  "  farther  away  from 
Heaven  than  when  he  was  a  boy,"  when  life  has  become 
complex  and  puzzling  and  the  light  of  fairyland  has 
faded  into  the  grey  sky  of  routine  reality. 

The  child  is  a  cheerful  being.  He  lives  in  the  sun- 
shine ;  he  does  not  brood  over  the  problems  of  pain  and 
evil.  It  is  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  preacher  to 
attempt  to  introduce  him  to  the  problems  of  pain  and 
evil  too  early.  Let  him  enjoy  his  childhood  in  the 
sunshine  as  long  as  possible.  Let  him  abound  in  the 
fulness  of  his  growing  powers,  and  romp  as  a  young 
animal,  and  sing  with  the  birds. 

In  one  of  his  sermons  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  Canon 
Scott  Holland  says  : — 

The  notes  of  this  child  temper  are  therefore  wonder  and  trust. 
Wonder  !  have  we,  who  are  grown  up,  let  life  cease  to  be  wonder- 
ful ?  Has  the  earth  grown  drab  and  hard  and  naked  to  us  ?  Are  we 
aware  of  no  strange  secrets  that  haunt  it,  or  of  giants  that  come 
and  go,  and  call  on  us  to  follow?  Have  we  despaired  of  being  sur- 
prised at  anything  ?  Have  we  lost  hope  ?  Then  we  are  no  child. 
The  child  ever  walks  a-tiptoe  in  a  fairy  world,  trembling  at  the 
mysteries  that  encompass  it  about  within  the  magic  of  their  delight. 

87 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Oh,  what  will  come  next  ?  Who  can  guess  ?  What  paths  will  open 
out?  Into  what  tempting  recesses?  What  are  those  eyes  that 
follow  it  about,  peeping  through  guarded  trees  ?  What  are  those 
voices  that  haunt  the  delicate  air  ? 

Ah  !  walk  warily  ! 

With  round  eyes  expectant ! 

Nursing  a  heart  big  with  unutterable  thoughts, 

Dreaming  ever  of  what  might  be. 

That  is  how  a  child  fares  forward  in  this  amazing  world  of  ours  ; 
and  if  we  were  but  as  children  in  it,  we  should  know  and  perceive 
that  it  is  all  alive  with  wonder  still ;  that  it  is  one  undying  miracle ; 
that  it  is  still  charged  with  all  the  old  mystic  powers.  God  is  in 
this  place  and  we  knew  it  not ;  angels  pass  and  repass  up  and  down 
the  living  stairs  ;  bushes  still  burn  with  revelations,  voices  cry  to  us 
under  the  stars,  God  moves  about  the  gardens  like  a  breath  through 
the  trees  ;  the  flowers  speak  of  it,  the  sea  knows  it,  the  heavens 
brood  over  it,  and  the  heart  of  man  hides  it.  It  is  all  still  about  us, 
this  heaven  of  our  infancy,  if  only  we  will  open  our  eyes,  if  only  we 
will  listen  and  watch  (Rev.  xii.  7,  8  ;  also  Matt,  xviii.  i,  3). 

The  child  is  a  humourist,  fond  of  a  joke  and  a  laugh, 
and  a  preacher  with  no  sense  of  humour,  who  cannot 
wreathe  young  faces  in  smiles  and  provoke  hearty 
laughter,  had  better  not  attempt  children's  addresses. 
Once  upon  a  time  it  was  considered  right  and  proper 
for  the  preacher  to  tell  doleful  stories  to  the  children 
about  boys  and  girls  who  were  stricken  with  mortal 
sickness  and  died  young,  and  to  warn  children  of  the 
possibility  of  themselves  being  taken  away  from  a  world 
full  of  snares  and  pitfalls  to  their  heavenly  home.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  that  style  of  children's  address,  and 
that  kind  of  illustration,  are  entirely  things  of  the  past. 
Many  a  testimony  has  been  given  by  grown-up  people 
of  their  early  life  having  been  shadowed  by  thoughts  and 
dreams  stimulated  by  the  doleful  addresses,  illustrations, 

88 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

and    exhortations    to   which    they    listened    in    their 
childhood. 

Let  the  brightness  of  life  be  shown  to  the  children. 
Let  them  revel  in  the  joy  and  gladness  of  the  world. 
Let  them  believe  that  the  world  is  a  good  world  to 
live  in,  because  their  Heavenly  Father  made  it,  and 
because  He  has  given  them  the  faculties  to  enjoy 
it.  The  time  will  come  all  too  soon  when  the  **  shades 
of  the  prison-house  "  will  ''close  around  the  growing 
boy,"  and  when  he  will  be  forced  to  see  the  gloom  and 
the  tragedy  of  life ;  but  until  that  time  comes  he  will 
be  all  the  better,  and  all  the  healthier,  for  basking 
in  the  sunshine  and  the  gladness.  Here  are  some 
examples  of  illustrations  that  have  a  dash  of  humour 
in  them : — 

THE   ONE   DOOR 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  had  a  cat  which  he  liked  to  have  always  with 
him  in  his  study.  This  cat  had  a  kitten,  and  Sir  Isaac  used  to 
be  sometimes  troubled  when  he  heard  the  two  mewing  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  door,  waiting  to  come  in.  So  in  an  absent  mood 
of  mind  he  ordered  the  carpenter  to  make  two  holes  in  the  door, 
a  big  one  for  the  mother  cat,  and  a  smaller  one  for  the  kitten.  He 
did  not  realise  at  the  moment,  till  the  astonished  carpenter 
explained  to  him,  that  one  hole  would  suffice  for  both,  that  the 
kitten  could  go  in  at  the  same  door  as  its  mother.  Now,  the 
moral  of  this  homely  story  is  that  there  are  not  two  doors  to 
religion,  one  for  parents  and  another  for  children.  Jesus  is  the 
door  for  all.  Children,  indeed,  have  the  advantage,  for  grown-up 
persons  have  to  come  down  to  the  condition  of  children.  It  is 
not  by  the  big  hole  in  the  door  that  you  get  into  Heaven,  but  by 
the  little  door  ;  for  it  is  said  to  everyone,  "  Except  ye  be  converted 
and  become  as  little  children,  ye  cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  "  (John  x.  9).— Rev.  Hugh  Macmillan. 

89 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

*'SOLD    AGAIN,   SATAN" 

A  very  dear  friend  of  mine  died  in  Inverness  the  other  day, 
Dr.  Black,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  ministers  in  the  North  of 
Scotland,  and  he  once  told  me  a  story  of  how  wrong-doing  affects 
even  a  little  child.     One   day  the    Doctor  was  preaching  in   a 
country  church.      He  came  home  to  the  house  where  he  was 
staying  and  had  dinner,  and  after  dinner  was  over  he  was  very 
tired,  as  he  was  an  old  man,  and  he  said  he  would  lie  down  for  a 
rest  befoie  the  evening  service.     He  was  told  just  to  lie  on  the 
sofa,  and  the  lights  in  the  room  were  put  down  and  he  had  a  little 
rest.     No  one  ever  was  told  not  to  disturb  the  Doctor.     As  he  lay 
on  the  sofa  waiting  for  sleep  to  come,  he  heard  the  door  open 
softly,  and  he  looked  up  and  saw  a  little  girl's  head  peep  in.     He 
wondered  what  she  was  wanting,  and  he  watched.    The  room  was 
very  dark  and  the  little  girl  could  not  see  him.     She  crept  in  on 
tiptoe,  very  quietly,  up  to  the  table ;  then  she  hesitated,  and  then 
pushed  a  chair  in  to  the  table,  and  climbed  up  on  it,  and  put  her 
hand  out  and  took  a  bunch  of  grapes  off  a  plate  in  the  centre  of  the 
table.     She  then  slipped  away  quietly  out  of  the  room  and  closed 
the  door  ever  so  gently.     She  had  never  closed  it  so  gently  before 
— she  usually  banged  it !     Dr.  Black  knew  she  had  been  told  never 
to  touch  the  fruit  after  dinner,  and  he  was  disturbed,  and  wondered 
what  he  should  do.    Should  he  go  after  the  little  girl  and  tell  her 
she  had  done  wrong  ?     He  decided  not,  and  just  lay  still.     But  a 
little  while  afterwards  the  little  girl  entered,  with  tears  in  her  eyes, 
looking  very,  very  penitent,  and  very  miserable,  and  after  putting 
the  fruit  back  again  with  a  sigh  of  relief.  Dr.  Black  heard  her  say, 
"  Sold  again,  Satan  ! "     And  she  jumped  down  off  the  chair,  and 
ran  out  of  the  room  and  the  door  went  bang!  (Matt.  vi.  13).— 
Rev.  S.  G.  Maclennan,  M.A. 

THE  DOVE  THAT  WENT  TO  CHURCH 

The  sluggard,  in  the  Proverbs,  was  told  to  *'  go  to  the  ant : 
consider  her  ways  and  be  wise."  Some  people  of  to-day  might 
learn  a  lesson  from  a  dove  whose  story  is  told  in  an  American 
paper.  A  Newton  (Mass.)  young  lady  tells  how  she  attended  a 
church  in  a  Maine  town  which  she  visited.  Hearing  the  cooing  of 
a  dove,  she  looked  around  and  saw  a  white  dove  perched  on  the 

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Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

organ  and  listening  to  the  music  with  great  appreciation.  She 
learned  afterward  that  the  dove  had  been  a  regular  attendant  at 
church  for  eight  or  ten  years,  being  attracted  by  the  music,  of 
which  it  was  very  fond.  It  was  twelve  years  old,  and  was  the  pet 
of  a  lady  who  lived  near.  After  church  the  dove  was  taken  to  his 
Sunday  school  class  by  a  boy,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the  proceed- 
ings. Unlike  many  church  goers,  the  weather  made  no  difference 
to  the  dove,  as  every  Sunday,  summer  and  winter,  he  was  at  his 
post  on  the  organ  (Ps.  xxix.  2  ;  also  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  3). — H.  Jeffs. 

THE  PRETTIEST  HANDS 

I  read  this  story  the  other  day.  Three  ladies  were  once  dis- 
cussing who  had  the  prettiest  hands.  One  washed  her  hands  in 
milk,  and  so  she  said  hers  were  the  prettiest ;  another  dipped  hers 
in  juice — she  was  picking  strawberries — and  they  were  all  pink  with 
strawberry  juice ;  and  the  third  was  gathering  violets,  and  her 
hands  were  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  those  beautiful  flowers, 
just  then,  up  came  a  poor  old  widow  body  and  she  asked  bread  of 
these  ladies  ;  and  they  were  so  occupied  with  their  beautiful  hands 
that  they  could  not  give  any.  Another  woman  was  standing  by. 
Her  hands  were  not  beautiful,  save  by  marks  of  honest  toil  among 
them,  but  this  humble  woman  gave  to  the  poor  widow  what  she 
asked,  and  fed  her  and  spoke  kindly  to  her.  Then  the  poor  old 
widow  asked  what  the  three  ladies  were  disputing  about,  and  they 
said,  "  You  shall  decide  who  has  the  prettiest  hands."  She 
looked  at  the  milk-white  hands  and  she  said  "  No."  She  looked 
at  the  pink  hands  and  she  said  "No."  She  looked  at  the  violet- 
perfumed  hands  and  she  said  "No."  Then  she  turned  to  the 
working  woman,  and  taking  her  hands  said,  "  The  hands  that  are 
beautiful  are  the  hands  that  gave  "  (Matt.  xxv.  34 — 40). — Rev.  J.  D. 
Jones,  M.A.,  B.D. 

The  "  Sold  again,  Satan !  "  illustration  shows  how 
the  preacher  can  help  train  the  conscience  of  the  child. 
At  the  tenderest  age  the  child  begins  to  know  the 
difference  between  right  and  wrong,  and  has  many  a 
battle  to  fight  between  inclination  and  desire,  and  the 
sense  of  what  is  right,  before  conscience  becomes  the 

91 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

ruling  power  of  its  life.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  the 
young  animal  about  the  child,  and  it  has  to  learn  that 
its  supremacy  to  the  animal  lies  just  in  its  possession 
of  the  power  to  choose  the  good  and  reject  the  evil, 
and  that  its  character  will  grow  stronger  for  each 
victory  over  the  selfishness  and  cruelty  and  meanness 
that  belong  to  the  animal  nature.  Dean  Farrar,  in 
a  Westminster  Abbey  sermon,  told  a  story  that  is 
worth  repeating : — 

THE  AWAKENING   OF   CONSCIENCE 

This  is  the  story  told  of  the  first  awakening  of  conscience  in  one 
who  afterwards  grew  up  to  be  an  eminently  brave  and  good  man. 
"  When  I  was  a  child,"  he  said,  "about  four  years  old,  my  father 
led  me  by  the  hand  to  a  distant  part  of  the  farm,  but  sent  me  home 
alone.  On  my  way  I  had  to  pass  a  little  pond  then  spreading  its 
waters  wide.  A  rhodora  in  full  bloom,  a  rare  flower  in  my 
neighbourhood,  and  which  grew  only  in  that  locality,  attracted  me 
to  the  pond.  I  saw  a  little  spotted  tortoise  sunning  himself  in  the 
shallow  water  at  the  root  of  the  flaming  shrub.  I  lifted  the  stick  I 
had  in  my  hand  to  strike  the  harmless  reptile,  for  though  I  had 
never  killed  any  creature,  yet  I  had  seen  other  boys  out  of  sport 
destroy  birds  and  squirrels,  and  the  like,  and  I  felt  a  disposition  to 
follow  their  example.  But  all  at  once  something  checked  my  arm, 
and  a  voice  within  me  said,  loud  and  clear,  '  It  is  wrong  ! '  I 
held  my  uplifted  stick  in  wonder  at  the  new  emotion,  the  con- 
sciousness of  an  inward  but  involuntary  check  upon  my  own  action, 
until  the  tortoise  and  the  rhodora  both  vanished  from  my  sight. 
I  hastened  home  and  told  the  tale  to  my  mother,  and  asked  her 
what  it  was  that  said  to  me  it  was  wrong.  She  wiped  a  tear  from 
her  eye  with  her  apron  and  said,  '  My  child,  some  may  call  it 
^conscience,  but  I  prefer  to  call  it  the  voice  of  God  in  the  soul  of 
man.  If  you  listen  and  obey  it,  then  it  will  speak  clearer  and 
clearer,  and  always  guide  you  aright  ;  but  if  you  turn  a  deaf  ear 
and  disobey  it,  then  it  will  fade  out  little  by  little  and  leave  you  all 
in  the  dark,  and  without  a  guide.  Your  life  depends  on  heeding 
that  little  voice.' 

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Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

This  story  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  Genesis  iii.,  the  story 
of  the  eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit ;  and  of  Rom.  vii.  21 — 24, 
Paul's  contrast  of  the  "  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man,"  and  the  "  other  law  of  the  members,  warring  against  the 
law  of  the  mind." 

There  is  an  excellent  illustration  to  enforce  the  duty 
and  the  beauty  of  unselfishness,  and  the  necessity  of  its 
culture  by  children,  in  a  sermon  of  Dr.  N.  Dwight 
Hillis:— 

"  GIVE  AND  IT  SHALL  BE  GIVEN" 

Some  scholars  speak  of  this  as  a  dark  saying,  an  enigma,  at  best 
a  half  truth.  For  others,  the  words,  "  Give,  and  it  shall  be  given 
unto  you,"  are  simple  as  sunshine.  I  can  best  state  my  own 
interpretation  of  them  by  recalling  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Agassiz. 
When  he  was  a  boy  of  ten  years  he  went  with  his  mother  to 
Grindelwald.  One  day  the  woman  and  the  child  visited  the  Echo 
Valley.  Knowing  that  the  boy  had  never  heard  the  echo,  the 
mother  told  the  child  that  for  men  there  was  an  old  man  in  the 
mountain  ;  that  for  boys  there  was  a  boy  who  dwelt  in  the  mountain, 
who  would  answer  any  one  who  spoke  to  him.  So  the  boy  lifted 
up  his  voice  and  cried  aloud.  At  once  the  mountain  echoed  back 
the  greeting.  Surprised,  the  child  called  out,  "  Who  are  you.''" 
And  the  mountain  answered,  "Who  are  you  .?  "  Irritated,  Louis 
Agassiz  cried  out,  "I  don't  like  you!"  Straightway  the  voice 
answered,  ''  I  don't  like  you  !  "  The  reply  was  too  much.  The 
child's  lips  began  to  quiver  and  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  "  I 
think  that  is  a  very  disagreeable  boy  !  "  Then  the  mother  took  a 
part  in  the  controversy.  She  advised  the  child  to  give  kind  words 
to  the  unseen  stranger.  But  when  he  sent  a  kindly  greeting  the 
stranger  echoed  the  overture  of  friendship.  When  the  child 
offered  to  show  his  things  to  his  new  friend,  the  mountain  echoed, 
"  I  will  show  you  my  things."  The  boy  gave  one  call,  one  cry,  but 
the  mountain  echoed  it  several  times,  in  voices  that  grew  ever 
fainter  and  sweeter.  For  this  is  the  way  of  God  and  Nature. 
Give  kindness,  and  kindness  is  received.  Give  disobedience,  and 
Nature  answers  with  antagonism,  (Luke  vi.  38). — Dr.  N.  Dwight 
Hillis. 

93 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Here  are  two  other  stories,  from  life,  of  the  awakening 
of  youthful  conscience : — 


A  GOOD  CONSCIENCE 

Frank  Gordon  was  reckoned  to  be  the  most  skilful  player  of  peg- 
in-the-ring  of  any  boy  in  the  town.  Nine  times  out  of  ten  he  would 
hit  the  top  in  the  centre  of  the  ring,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion 
had  split  it  in  two.  The  game  was  at  its  height  one  day,  and  it 
was  Frank's  turn.  He  told  the  boys  to  keep  a  sharp  look  out  on 
the  top  in  the  ring,  as  he  meant  to  split  it ;  but  as  he  wound  the 
string  round  his  top  he  did  not  notice  that  it  had  got  slightly 
twisted,  and  when  he  hurled  the  top  with  all  his  might,  instead  of 
hitting  the  one  in  the  ring  it  jerked  back  over  his  shoulder,  and 
went  crashing  through  a  grocer's  shop  window.  '  There  were  seven 
boys  standing  round  the  ring  when  Frank  took  aim,  but  when  the 
grocer,  who  hurried  to  the  door,  arrived  there,  there  was  not  a  boy 
to  be  seen  anywhere.  They  had  all  disappeared  in  different  direc- 
tions. Frank  got  clear  away  along  with  the  rest,  and  took  refuge 
in  a  stable.  He  had  only  been  there  a  few  minutes  when  the 
thought  struck  him  that  it  was  a  very  mean,  shabby  thing  he  was 
doing,  and  for  ten  minutes  a  mighty  struggle  went  on  in  his  heart. 
He  felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  go  right  back  and  acknowledge  to 
the  grocer  that  it  was  he  who  had  broken  the  window.  ^  Then 
something  seemed  to  whisper  in  his  ear,  telling  him  what  a  donkey 
he  was  to  dream  of  such  a  thing.  Let  the  grocer  find  it  out  if  he 
could ;  if  not,  there  would  be  an  end  to  the  matter.  Then  his 
conscience  seemed  to  tell  him  that  that  was  cowardly  and  wicked, 
and  so  the  struggle  went  on.  Finally,  he  decided  that  he  would 
do  what  he  felt  to  be  the  right  thing.  He  went  back  to  the  grocer's 
shop  and  confessed,  and  undertook  to  pay  the  damage  if  the  grocer 
would  only  give  him  time.  It  swallowed  up  his  pocket-money  for 
a  good  many  weeks,  but  he  went  bravely  through  it.  Some  of  the 
boys  chaffed,  and  declared  what  a  silly  he  was  ;  but  in  after  years 
Frank  came  to  see  that  it  was  the  great  crisis  of  his  life.  He  had 
many  a  fierce  struggle  between  right  and  wrong  after  that,  but 
each  victory  gained  made  it  all  the  easier  next  time  (l  Tim.  i.  19) 
— William  Ward. 

94 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

GODLINESS   BEFORE   GAIN 

It  was  a  great  day  at  the  school,  when  the  result  of  several  com- 
petitions was  to  be  declared,  the  chief  of  which  was  a  gold  medal 
to  be  awarded  to  the  finest  penman  in  the  school.  The  mayor  of 
the  town  was  to  be  there  to  distribute  the  prizes  and  awards.  The 
gold  medal  for  the  best  penman  was  to  be  held  back  to  the  last. 
There  was  deathly  silence  among  the  boys  and  their  friends  when 
the  head  master  rose  to  announce  the  award.  He  declared  that 
the  judges  had  had  very  great  difficulty  in  deciding  between  the 
merits  of  two  of  the  competitors.  Every  page  of  each  of  their 
copy-books  had  been  written  with  great  care  and  had  followed  the 
copy  almost  perfectly.  There  was  one  page,  however,  in  one  of 
the  books  that  was  so  superior  to  any  other  that  the  judges  had 
decided  that  the  gold  medal  should  go  to  this  one,  and  he  called 
upon  William  Lake  to  step  forward  to  receive  the  medal.  William 
came  up  with  a  beating  heart  amid  the  plaudits  of  his  school 
fellows.  Instead,  however,  of  going  right  up  to  the  mayor  to 
receive  the  medal,  he  went  to  the  head  master  and  asked  if  he 
might  be  allowed  to  see  the  special  page  to  which  he  had  referred. 
The  copy-book  was  produced,  and  when  the  boy  examined  it  he 
turned  to  the  master  and  said,  '*  That  is  not  my  writing,  sir.  One 
day  the  copy-books  got  mixed;  I  got  Frank  Johnson's  book  and 
he  got  mine  ;  that  is  Frank's  writing."  "  Oh  !  '•*  said  the  master, 
"that  alters  the  case."  The  judges  then  put  their  heads  together 
and  decided  that  the  medal  must  go  to  Frank.  Frank  was  called 
up  and  received  the  medal  at  the  hands  of  the  mayor.  Many  of 
the  boys  subsequently  called  Willie  a  great  booby  for  having  acted 
as  he  did,  but  in  after  years  he  came  to  look  upon  what  he  did  that 
day  as  one  of  the  best  things  he  ever  did  in  his  life  (i  Tim.  i.  19). 
— ^WiLLiAM  Ward. 

Every  child  is  a  hero-worshipper.  His  first  hero  and 
heroine  are  his  father  and  mother,  the  noblest  and 
cleverest  man,  and  the  kindest  and  most  beautiful 
woman,  in  the  world.  Turn  his  hero-worship  to  good 
account.  Let  Jesus  be  presented  as  the  Hero  of  heroes, 
who  loved  the  children,  and  came  into  the  world  to  set 

95 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

them  an  example  of  how  they  may  rise  to  the  noblest 
heights  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  by  walking  in 
His  footsteps.  The  talker  to  children  cannot  do  better 
than  take  some  Christian  hero  or  heroine,  some  mis- 
sionary, statesman,  or  Christian  soldier  or  sailor,  some 
man  or  woman  who  has  done  noble  things  and  lived  the 
life  heroic,  in  whatever  station  of  life,  and  hold  up  that 
man,  or  that  woman,  as  an  example  to  be  imitated, 
telling  as  dramatically  as  possible  stories  of  their  deeds. 
Let  the  children  learn  that  heroism  is  not  limited  to 
the  doing  of  doughty  deeds,  but  that  there  are  heroes 
and  heroines  of  faith  and  noble  endurance.  Some 
illustrations  follow: — 

THE    HERO    CARDINAL 

I  stood  one  day  in  a  crypt  in  Milan  Cathedral,  before  a  tomb 
which  was  richly  bespangled  with  gold  and  silver  and  precious 
stones.  It  was  the  tomb  of  a  man  who  had  been  dead  three  hundred 
years  and  more,  but  it  was  like  a  wedding-chamber.  His  body 
had  been  embalmed  ;  it  lay  in  a  coffin  with  a  glass  lid,  and  the 
tomb  was  simply  covered  with  precious  jewels.  Once  every 
year  the  children  and  people  of  Milan  march  in  procession  to  this 
cathedral  and  round  this  crypt,  singing  a  memorial  song  and  a 
song  of  grateful  gladness  to  the  Lord  ;  for  this  man.  Carlo 
Borromeo,  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  black  plague  visited 
Milan,  and  priests  and  parents  and  merchants  and  princes  were 
flying  to  the  hills,  and  the  children  were  left  behind — this  man 
stayed  at  home  and  gathered  the  children  together,  three  hundred 
and  seventy  of  them,  and  turned  the  cathedral  into  a  Sunday- 
school  teacherate — even  a  nobler  occupation  ! — and  the  people 
could  not  let  him  die  (John  xxi.  15).— Dr.  C.  A.  Berry. 

THE   MIGHT   OF  SILENT   PRAYER 

Long,  long  ago,  when  the  preaching  friars  were  in  this  land 
carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  ignorant,  neglected  multitude  with  great 

g6 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

demonstration  of  power,  it  was  the  custom  to  send  out  these  mis- 
sionaries two  by  two  as  in  the  early  disciples'  days  ;  and  it  came 
to  pass  that  one  of  these  preachers,  who -was  renowned  for  his  gift 
of  utterance,  for  the  converting  grace  that  was  upon  his  lips,  was 
sent  out  with  a  blind  brother,  well-nigh  speechless,  who  never 
uttered  a  word,  but  simply  stood  or  knelt  by  the  side  of  the  gifted 
one  and  gazed  in  silent  prayer.  The  people  often  wondered  why 
one  so  gifted  had  been  sent  out  with  one  so  apparently  useless, 
and  the  preacher  himself  often  asked  why  they  two  had  been  so 
unequally  yoked  together.  It  came  to  pass  one  day  that  a  great 
multitude  were  assembled,  and  the  speaker  spoke  with  unusual 
inspiration.  The  crowd  was  moved  just  as  a  cornfield  is  swept 
before  the  wind.  Men,  women,  and  children  were  crying  under 
conviction,  and  the  preacher  was  lifted  up  and  perhaps  exalted 
above  measure  by  the  triumph  which  his  words  had  gained.  In 
his  rapture  he  looked  up  and  cried,  "  Sun  of  God,  shine  on  us ! 
Jesus,  Saviour,  shine  on  us!"  And  suddenly  the  heavens  were 
opened  and  from  the  Great  White  Throne  there  came  a  shaft  of 
pure  heavenly  light  which  fell  upon  the  face  of  the  blind  brother, 
the  face  that  was  uplifted  in  silent  prayer,  making  it  beautiful  with 
the  very  glory  of  the  Lord ;  and  then  the  light  passed  to  the 
preacher's  face  and  played  in  sacred  fire  about  his  lips,  and  then 
from  that  face  to  the  faces  of  all  the  crowd.  So  did  they  learn,  and 
so  did  the  preacher  himself  know,  that  the  power  which  they  had 
all  felt  and  enjoyed  had  come  straight  from  Heaven  in  answer  to 
the  silent  prayers,  and  had  come  first  to  the  humble  brother,  and 
passed  from  him  to  the  preacher  and  the  multitude  (Matt.  xxi.  22). 
—Rev.  J.  G.  Greenhough,  M.A. 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST 

You  remember  the  old  story  of  the  Scottish  knight,  with  the 
king's  heart  in  a  golden  casket,  who,  beset  by  crowds  of  dusky, 
turbaned  unbelievers,  slung  the  precious  casket  into  the  serried  ranks 
of  the  enemy,  and  with  the  shout,  "  Lead  on,  brave  heart ;  I  follow 
thee  !  "  cast  himself  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  lost  his  Hfe 
that  he  might  save  it.  And  so,  if  we  have  Christ  before  us,  we 
shall  count  no  path  too  perilous  that  leads  us  to  Him,  but  rather, 
hearing  Him  say,  "  If  any  man  serve  Me,  let  him  follow  Me,"  we 

97  G 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

shall  walk  in  His  footsteps  and  fight  the  good  fight,  sustained  by 
His  example  (Matt.  xvi.  24). — Dr.  Maclaren. 

Illustrations  that  catch  and  hold  the  attention  of 
children  may  be  got  out  of  their  play.  From  their  play 
many  lessons  may  be  deduced — the  necessity  of  good 
temper,  "fair  play,"  co-operation,  training  for  endurance 
and  skill,  mutual  encouragement,  and  so  on.  To 
exemplify  the  use  that  may  be  made  of  play,  I  give 
here  the  outline  of  an  address  by  my  friend  Mr.  Basil 
Mathews,  B.A. 

LET'S  PRETEND  I 

What  sport  you  can  have  playing  "  Let's  Pretend."  At  home, 
with  an  old  orange-box,  a  tea-tray,  a  comb  covered  with  paper,  a 
nightgown  and  a  clothes-prop  we  can  play  pirates  or  the  band  in 
the  park,  "  chapels,"  or  St.  George  charging  the  dragon  water-butt 
with  the  clothes-prop  spear.  Every  time  you  girls  play  with  your 
dolls  you  play  "  Let's  Pretend,"  with  yourself  as  mother  and  the 
dolly  as  baby.  Quote  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  "  Block  City  "  and 
"  Land  of  Story  Books  "  from  his  "  Child's  Garden  of  Verses." 
The  best  verse  is  : — 

*  Let  the  sofa  be  mountains,  the  carpet  be  sea. 
There  I'll  establish  a  city  for  me, 
A  kirk  and  a  mill  and  a  palace  beside. 

And  a  harbour  as  well  where  my  vessels  may  ride." 

Jesus  used  to  stand  in  the  market-place  and  watch  children  play- 
ing "  Let's  Pretend."  And  when  some  children  said  "  Let's  play 
at  funerals"  and  "Let's  play  at  weddings"  some  of  the  others 
wouldn't.  Jesus  said  that  was  like  some  nasty  grown-up  people. 
Jesus  didn't  like  spoil-sports  (Luke  vii.  32). 

The  other  day  I  saw  scores  of  boys  and  even  grown-up  men  at 
a  railway  station  going  away  to  play  "  Let's  Pretend  "  for  a  whole 
week.  The  day  before  those  boys  and  men  had  been  office-boys, 
errand-boys  and  schoolboys,  clerks  and  shopmen.  But  now  they 
had  smart  little  hats  on  one  side  of  their  heads,  belts  roiind  their 

98 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

waists  and  some  had  fifes  and  drums.  They  were  the  boys'  brigade 
going  to  camp  like  soldiers.  They  went  to  a  great  open  field  by  the 
sea  with  lovely  bell-tents  where  seven  of  you  sleep  in  a  circle  on 
straw  palliasses  with  your  toes  to  the  central  pole  and  earwigs 
crawling  over  you.  Then  the  stars  twinkle  and  the  sea-waves 
come  on  the  beach  with  a  "  hushshshsh  "  till  you  go  off  to  sleep. 

In  the  morning  a  bugle  is  blown,  you  look  out  and  rub  your  eyes 
and  see  how  fine  the  weather  is.  Then  you  roll  up  your  straw 
mattresses  and  fold  the  blankets  while  some  boys  get  the 
breakfast  and  then  wash  up — all  of  you  enjoying  the  things  you 
are  too  lazy  to  do  at  home.  Then  you  all  meet  in  a  big  tent  for 
morning  prayers,  and  thank  God  for  the  roaring  sea,  the  birds  and 
flowers,  the  fields  and  the  open  sky.  Then  you  have  drill  and  play 
games. 

While  you  are  playing  "  Let's  Pretend  "  at  camp  you  find  that 
it  isn't  a  bit  brave  and  soldier-like  to  lounge  along  the  street  with 
a  cane,  a  cigarette  and  a  high  collar,  but  that  it  is  true  courage  to 
hold  up  your  head,  throw  back  your  shoulders,  tell  the  truth,  look 
the  world  in  the  face  and  love  and  serve  God  and  your  fathers  and 
mothers.     You  are  iust  going  to  sing 

**  Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise  ! 
And  put  your  armour  on." 

Shall  we  do  that  ?  Let's  !  We  shall  have  even  a  jollier  time 
than  they  do  in  camp  if  you  put  on  as  Paul  says  (Eph.  vi.  lo  -i8) 
the  belt  of  truth,  the  breastplate  of  goodness,  peace  for  shoes,  faith 
in  your  Captain  Jesus  as  a  shield.  His  salvation  as  your  soldier's 
helmet,  and  in  the  grip  of  your  fist  the  sword  of  the  Spirit. 

Girls,  do  you  think  that  leaves  you  out  ?  (Tell  the  story  of 
Florence  Nightingale.)  The  other  day  I  saw  a  great  hall  full  of 
children.  When  a  piano  played  a  boy  fell  down  as  if  he  were 
wounded.  Some  girls  ran  in  with  a  stretcher  and  bandaged  him 
so  beautifully  that  I  wished  I  had  a  broken  leg,  a  dislocated 
shoulder,  a  sprained  wrist  and  a  black-eye  to  be  bandaged. 
They  were  playing  a  Florence  Nightingale  "Let's  Pretend"  at 
their  Life  Brigade. 

Do  you  ever  feel  as  if  there's  a  bruise  right  inside  you  when 
somebody  has  been  nasty  to  you  ?  You  look  at  father's  face  when 
he  comes  home  at  night  and  you'll  see  he  feels  like  that  sometimes. 

99  G    2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

He  wants  the  ointment  of  little  girls'  kisses  and  to  be  bandaged 
with  loving  hugs.  Can't  we  be  Jesus'  Life- Brigade  girls  while  the 
boys  are  soldiers  of  Christ  ?  God  wants  a  City  in  which  the  boys 
and  girls  will  be  playing  in  the  streets  (Zech.  viii.  5). 

The  illustration  that  follows  shows  what  use  may  be 
made  of  children's  sports  : — 

RUNNING  TO   OBTAIN 

There  were  seven  of  them  on  the  line — five  boys  and  two  girls. 
It  was  the  Sunday  school  treat  in  the  big  field,  and  after  tea  there 
were  races.  *'  One,  two,  three  and  away  !  "  Off  they  go  !  They 
have  to  turn  round  a  teacher  fifty  yards  away  and  return  to  the 
starting  point.  Soon  Jim  Tomkins  and  Pollie  Jones  take  the  lead, 
and  keep  it  nearly  to  the  teacher.  Then  Pollie  breaks  the  mock 
pearl  necklace  she  is  wearing  and,  girl-like,  stops  to  pick  up  the 
pearls,  and  runs  no  more.  Tomkins  has  turned  the  teacher,  but 
he  pulls  up  suddenly,  nearly  doubled  with  pain.  At  tea  he  had 
thoroughly  enjoyed  himself — three  buns,  very  large  and  very  new, 
and  heaps  of  bread  and  butter  !  A  wiry  little  chap,  Jack  Smith, 
and  a  short  chubby-cheeked  girl,  Maggie  Peters,  were  now  leading. 
Jack  had  been  sparing  at  tea,  saving  his  buns  till  the  racing  was 
over.  He  had  been  practising  running  for  a  fortnight.  Maggie  had 
taken  off  her  hat  and  jacket,  and  had  on  a  pair  of  light  running 
boots.  She  had  no  necklace  on  to  break.  She  had  started  steadily, 
saving  herself  for  a  final  spurt.  The  other  boys  were  seen  to  be 
*'  out  of  it."  It  was  fine  to  see  the  splendid  finish  of  Jack  and 
Maggie,  who  were  cheered  with  "Go  it,  Jack  ! "  "  Go  on,  Maggie  ! " 
by  their  admirers.  Neither  could  pass  the  other,  and  they  crossed 
the  line  a  dead  heat.  Jack's  prize  was  a  pocket-knife  that  was  his 
joy  and  pride  till  he  went  to  work,  and  Maggie  took  home  a 
splendid  doll  which  she  called  "  Wendy,"  after  the  heroine  in 
"Peter  Pan."  Both  had  "run  so  that  they  might  obtain,"  and 
had  "  laid  aside  every  weight "  to  "  run  the  race  that  was  set  before 
them"  (i  Cor.  ix.  24  ;  also  Heb.  xii.  i). 

Two  illustrations  are  added  as  the  contribution  of  a 
minister  who  is  very  happy  in  his  talks  to  children  : — 

100 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Children 

THE   FACE  OF  JESUS 

At  one  place  where  I  preached  on  a  very  hot  Sunday  the  con- 
gregation were  very  sleepy  except  one  little  girl,  who  was  gazing 
at  me  and  listening  most  intently.  I  preached  to  her,  and  she 
helped  me  so  much  that  the  congregation  woke  up  and  we  all  had 
what  we  preachers  call  *'  a  good  time."  I  did  not  know  the  little 
girl,  but  some  time  after,  when  I  was  preaching  at  the  same  place, 
I  was  told  she  was  not  there.  Just  as  I  was  leaving,  however,  her 
father  told  me  his  daughter  was  very  ill,  and  not  expected  to  live, 
and  he  begged  me  to  go  and  see  her.  I  went  and  found  it  was  my 
little  friend,  and  to  my  surprise  I  found  she  was  stone  blind,  but 
somehow  her  eyes  had  kept  their  brilliance.  I  chatted  with  her 
and  sang  a  hymn,  and  then  I  said,  **  You  are  not  going  to  be  long 
here  now,  dearie.  But  you  are  not  afraid  to  die,  are  you  ?  "  And 
the  old  smile  lighted  up  her  face  as  she  replied,  *'  Oh,  dear,  no, 
sir  !  Don't  you  know  that  in  Heaven  I  shall  see  f^"*  And  soon  the 
Lord's  angel  came  and  took  her  away,  and  Jesus  said  once  more 
"  Ephphatha  "  :  Be  opened.  And  the  first  thing  she  ever  saw  was 
the  wondrous  face  of  the  great  King,  and  the  Palace  Beautif  .i 
(Rev.  xxii.  4).— Rev.  Samuel  Horton. 

GOD  RESISTETH   THE   PROUD 

One  day  as  I  lay  in  a  wood  I  heard  a  strange  voice  speaking. 
It  was  a  tall  foxglove  which  grew  on  a  sunny  bank.  It  was 
addressing  a  violet,  and  this  is  what  it  said  :  '*  Oh  !  you  poor  wee 
mite  !  why  don't  you  grow  tall  like  me,  and  then  you  would  be  seen 
and  admired  ?  Nobody  sees  you  down  there,  and  if  it  were  not 
for  your  perfume  we  should  not  know  of  your  existence."  Before 
the  violet  could  reply  a  young  man  came  along  the  path  swinging 
a  stick  which  struck  the  stalk  of  the  foxglove  and  cut  off  its  head. 
As  it  lay  by  the  side  of  the  violet  the  latter  said  :  *'  Had  you  been 
content  to  be  small  and  humble,  as  I,  you  might  have  had  a 
happier  fate  "  (James  iv.  6). — Rev.  Samuel  Horton. 

The  Bible  itself  is  a  splendid  book  of  stories,  and  the 
talker  to  the  children  who  knows  how  to  dramatise  will 
always  capture  their  interest  by  some  vividly-told  story 

lOI 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

of  Joseph  or  David,  oi  Peter  or  Paul,  or  of  Jesus 
Himself.  Children  have  their  favourites  among  the 
characters  of  the  Bible,  and  their  favourites  are  the 
men  and  the  women  and  the  children  who  did  things, 
and  left  themselves  an  everlasting  name 


102 


CHAPTER  VII 

ILLUSTRATION  OF  ADDRESSES  TO  MEN 

The  Brotherhood  and  the  Adult  School  movements 
are  now  gathering  in,  every  Sunday,  between  six  hundred 
and  seven  hundred   thousand   men.     The  methods  of 
the  two  movements  differ,  but  they  attract  the  same 
types  of  men,  and  in  each  movement  one  of  the  chief 
attractive  elements  is  the  homely  and  practical  nature 
of  the  expositions  of  Scripture,  and  treatment  of  various 
questions  affecting  individual  and  social  morals,  from 
the  Christian  standpoint.     The  address  to  men  differs 
from   the    sermon    in   several   particulars.     It   is   not 
usually  attached  to  a  text,  it  deals  less  with  the  gene- 
ralities of  religion  and  more  with  its  particular  appli- 
cations.    It  is  free  and  easy  in  style,   and  it  gives  full 
play  to  whatever  sentiment  and  humour  there  may  be 
in  the  speaker.     The   address  to  men,  like  the  address 
to  children,  must  take  account  of  the  psychology  of  the 
hearers.     These  will  generally  be   working  men,   who 
have  had  only  the  elementary  school  education,  who 
are  working  long  hours  daily,  in  occupations  that  are 
usually  humdrum  and  not  of  a  kind  to  quicken  their 
intelligence.     They  have  many  difficulties  and  tempta- 
tions, they  are  mostly  family  men,  or  young  fellows  who 
are  looking   forward   to   having   homes   of  their  own. 
Their  presence  at  the  Adult  School    or  Brotherhood 

103 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

meeting  shows  that  they  are  interested  in  religion,  that 
they  feel  they  need  all  the  support  that  religion  can 
give  them,  and  it  testifies  to  their  sense  of  the  need  and 
value  of  comradeship  in  living  a  religious  life. 

The  speaker  to  men  must  be  intensely  sympathetic. 
He  is  not  to  talk  down  to  them  as  if  they  were  grown- 
up children.      He  is  to  credit  them  with  intelligence 
— and  intelligence  highly  developed  many  of  these  men 
have,  even  without  the  advantage  of  much  education. 
He  is  to  talk  to  them  in  a  manly,  brotherly  way,  with 
that  shrewd  knowledge  of  the  ways  into  their  mind  and 
heart  which  only  intimate  association  or  sympathetic 
intuition  can  give.     The  speaker  to  men  will  find  that 
religion   as  theology  only  faintly  interests  them.     It  is 
religion  as  life,   religion    as   work,  religion  as  helpful, 
religion  as  warfare  against  the  enemies  of  purity  and 
justice,  religion  as  presenting  to  them  a  Father  in  Heaven 
and  a  Christ  who  is  their  Elder  Brother,  and  who  came 
that  all  men  might  be  brethren,  to  which  they  enthu- 
siastically rally.     Rehgion  on  its  human  side,  with  its 
romance,    its  heroism,  its  drama,  its  self-sacrifice,  its 
poetry,  its  colour :  religion  that  takes  the  whole  of  life 
for  its  province,  that  sanctifies  every  day  of  the  week, 
and  every  occupation  and  interest  of  life,  is  what  appeals 
to  these  men.     The  speaker  needs  to  be  very  open- 
minded,   very    human-hearted,    very    catholic    in    his 
interests,    with    intimate    and    varied    knowledge    of 
humanity,  who  addresses  such  meetings.     He  will  soon 
find  that  his  addresses  must  have  "  body  " — that  is,  they 
must  deal  concretely  with  definite  subjects,  and  not 
lose  themselves  in  vague  generalities.     The  men  are 

104 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

willing  and  eager  to  be  taught,  and  if  they  are  sent 
empty  away  they  keenl}^  resent  the  waste  of  their  time. 
They  like  to  hear  a  man  who  knows  something,  and 
can  speak  with  authority  about  things  of  which  they 
know  little  or  nothing  themselves,  and  they  will  listen 
attentively  to  a  speaker  who  is  not  very  bright  if  he  is 
communicating  facts  to  them,  and  giving  them  food  for 
thought  and  for  conversation  among  themselves  after- 
wards. They  do  love,  however,  to  hear  a  speaker  who 
has  the  gift  of  story-telling,  who  knows  how  to  point 
his  moral  with  a  tale  or  an  illustration  drawn  from 
human  nature,  from  natural  history  or  from  mechanical 
processes  with  which  they  are  familiar.  A  Midland 
Brotherhood  listened  with  all  its  ears  to  the  principal  of 
a  theological  college  who  discoursed  to  them  on  the 
romance  of  the  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament. 
They  were  keenly  interested  as  he  told  them  of 
**  palimpsests " — writings  of  the  New  Testament, 
written  over  the  faded  or  partly  rubbed  out  MSS.  of 
secular  works,  prorane  tales,  lives  of  the  Saints  or 
commentaries  of  earlier  writers — as  he  explained  the 
difference  between  "uncial"  and  "cursive"  writing. 
The  principal  drew  lessons  from  the  palimpsests,  uncials, 
and  cursives,  and  the  men  went  away  feeling  that  they 
had  had  a  royal  feast. 

I  have  said  that  the  speaker  to  men  can  give  free 
play  to  his  humour  and  sentiment.  The  Rev.  F.  B. 
Meyer,  B.A.,  is  first  favourite  among  ministers  as  a 
speaker  to  men.  He  has  told  how  he  was  born  without 
humour  in  his  composition,  but  he  came  to  realise  that 
humour  is  a  means  of  grace.     It  opens  the  heart  of  a 

10=^ 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

man  which  is  closed  to  all  serious  appeal  because 
humour  is  "  the  touch  of  Nature  that  makes  the  whole 
world  kin,"  and  so  Mr.  Meyer  cultivated  the  faculty  of 
humour,  with  what  successful  results  all  who  hear  him 
are  pleasantly  aware.  A  speaker  who  can  tell  a 
humorous  story  or  illustrate  a  point  with  a  humorous 
analogy  can  convey  much-needed  warnings  to  men 
about  their  faults  and  foibles,  which  they  would 
probably  resent  if  the  admonitions  were  given  in  a 
solemn  lecturing  fashion.  Here  is  a  story  that  has  done 
excellent  service  in  my  own  addresses  to  men,  and  has 
never  failed  to  make  its  effect ; — 

RECLAIMED   TO    HOME   LIFE 

In  one  of  his  amusing  and  sympathetic  stories  of  working  life  in 
London,  Mr.  W.  Pett  Ridge  tells  how  a  working  man,  who  was  a 
merry  companion  at  the  "  Pig  and  Whistle,"  startled  his  wife  one 
evening  by  spending  the  evening  at  home.  He  liked  it  so  much 
that  he  did  the  same  thing  the  next  night,  though  during  the  day  he 
had  to  threaten  he  would  knock  down  the  next  man  who  referred  to 
his  absence  from  the  "Pig  and  Whistle"  and  accused  him  of 
being  a  teetotaller.  "Reminds  me,"  he  said  to  his  wife  on  the 
second  evening,  "  of  our  old  courting  times.  'Appy  days  !  'Appy 
days  !  Not  too  late  for  them  to  come  again."  They  had  no 
children.  Her  sister  had  nine — blessings  are  very  unequally  dis- 
tributed in  this  world.  She  had  wanted  to  adopt  one  of  the  nine, 
and  he  had  refused,  but  on  this  second  evening  of  restored  domes- 
ticity he  announces  that  he  is  in  favour  of  the  idea  of  taking  one, 
and  calls  "  Hands  up,  all  who  vote  for  the  resolution.  All !"  he 
announced  jovially.  "Carried!  Now,  is  there  anything  else.'"' 
*'  I  wish — I  wish,  Thomas,  that  every  woman  had  as  good  a 
husband  as  I've  got."  "After  you,"  he  said  in  a  husky  voice; 
"  after  you  with  the  handkerchief." 

This  story  makes  its  direct  appeal  to  the  domestic 

sentiment  of  the  working  man,  and  the  speaker  to  men 

io6 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

need  never  be  afraid  of  wearing  his  heart  upon  his 
sleeve  in  the  matter  of  the  display  of  sentiment  provided 
it  is  healthy  sentiment ;  and  all  sentiment  that  makes 
for  the  strengthening  and  sw^eetening  of  home  life  is 
healthy  sentiment.  With  all  fiction,  all  poetry,  and  his 
own  observation  of  home  life  and  of  the  ways  of  men, 
women,  and  children  to  draw  upon,  the  speaker  to  men 
ought  to  have  little  difficulty  in  keeping  up  a  supply  of 
telling  domestic  illustrations.  The  Brotherhoods  and 
Adult  Schools  themselves  afford  many  illustrations  to 
speakers  who  know  their  work.  They  have  drawn  men 
in  who,  before  they  were  brought  back  under  the 
influence  of  religion,  had  not  attended  any  place  of 
worship  for  many  years,  and  made  sad  messes  of  their 
lives  for  lack  of  the  moral  support  and  guidance  that 
religion  gives.  There  are  few  Brotherhoods  and  Schools 
that  have  not  trophies,  in  the  shape  of  men  who  had 
wasted  their  lives,  and  neglected  their  homes,  with 
terrible  and  tragic  results.  Men  have  been  pointed  out 
to  me  in  many  meetings  whose  homes  had  been  little 
hells  upon  earth,  whose  wives  trembled  and  turned  pale 
at  the  sound  of  the  husband's  staggering  steps  at  the 
door,  and  whose  children,  at  the  sound  of  the  father's 
drunken  oaths,  hid  their  frightened  heads  under  the  bed- 
clothes, but  in  the  Brotherhood  or  School  they  "came  to 
themselves  "  ;  their  lives  were  transformed,  their  warm- 
hearted comrades  helped  to  make  new  men  of  them, 
and  their  homes  were  changed  into  little  heavens  here 
below.  The  men  listen  eagerly  to  stories  of  such  trans- 
formations, as  illustrative  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel 
and  the  power  of  Brotherhood.     A  speaker  need  not 

107  / 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

be  afraid  of  putting  his  teaching  into  the  concrete 
form  of  such  a  story,  though  he  will,  of  course,  avoid 
any  indication  of  the  man  whose  story  he  is  telling. 

An  appeal  to  chivalry  in  the  men's  meeting,  illus- 
trated by  a  romantic  mediaeval  story  or  a  "  modern 
instance  "  of  chivalrous  conduct,  is  always  heard  with 
approval,  and  makes  its  deep  impression.  There  is 
need  for  the  revival  of  chivalry  among  the  men  of  all 
classes.  Chivalry  means  gentleness  of  heart  combined 
with  manly  courage,  it  means  the  tender  concern  of  the 
strong  for  the  weak,  the  suffering,  and  the  oppressed, 
and  it  means  the  respect  which  the  true  man  always 
pays  to  womanhood  and  childhood.  Here  is  another 
story  from  a  famous  living  novelist  that  has  been  a 
favourite  at  men's  meetings : — 

CHIVALRY 

There  is  a  fine  imaginative  portrait  of  a  mediaeval  knight  in  the 
Sir  Nigel  Loring  of  Sir  Conan  Doyle's  fourteenth-century  romance, 
"  The  White  Company."  Sir  Nigel  lived  in  his  castle  at  Christ- 
church  with  his  lady,  a  gaunt,  forbidding  woman,  harsh  of  feature 
and  figure,  with  a  sharp  tongue  and  yet  a  warm  heart.  Sir  Nigel, 
because  she  was  a  woman  and  his  wife,  elevated  her  to  a  pedestal 
of  honour  which,  to  us  in  our  prosaic  days,  seems  absurd.  He 
regarded  his  lady  as  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  virtuous  lady 
living,  and  was  prepared  to  defend  her  name  for  beauty  and  virtue 
against  any  man  who  dared  to  say  that  his  lady  or  any  other  lady 
excelled  Sir  Nigel's  lady.  The  lady  herself  one  day,  when  he  was 
praising  her  beauty,  said  that  people  would  laugh  at  him  for 
doing  so.  Sir  Nigel  bade  his  trusty  squire  to  take  particular  note 
of  anybody  who  ventured  to  smile  when  he  was  vaunting  his  lady's 
beauty  and  he  would  have  debate  with  the  rash  man,  and  by 
debate  Sir  Nigel  meant  a  bout  with  broadsword  or  lance.  When 
Sir  Nigel  was  leading  his  White  Company  to  the  coast  to  embark 
for  the  wars  in  France  and  Spain,  his  lady  rode  with  him  part  of 

io8 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

the  way.  When  they  came  to  the  place  where  she  was  to  turn 
back,  Sir  Nigel  bent  low  in  his  saddle,  kissed  her  gloved  hand, 
begged  for  the  glove,  and  attached  it  to  his  cap  to  wear  through 
his  campaigns. — H.  Jeffs. 

Modern  chivalry  includes  zeal  for  social  reform  that 
will  rescue  the  victims  of  a  fiercely  competitive  system 
of  industry  from  conditions  that  stunt  manhood  and 
womanhood,  and  prevent  the  healthy  development  of 
the  faculties  of  mind  and  heart,  and  by  demoralising 
the  individual  tend  to  the  corruption  of  society.  The 
speaker  to  men  cannot  avoid  touching  on  questions  of 
social  and  moral  reform,  but  he  will  do  little  good  if  he 
is  not  primed  with  facts  and  cannot  illustrate  every 
point  by  a  statement  of  facts,  and  by  vividly-told  stories 
picturing  the  conditions — and  the  ruin  wrought  by  the 
conditions  on  the  manhood,  the  womanhood,  and  the 
childhood  living  in  them.  Mr.  William  Ward,  the  lay 
speaker  who  is  most  in  demand  at  Brotherhood  meet- 
ings the  country  over,  makes  his  strong  impression  on 
the  men  by  the  building  up  of  his  addresses  from  facts 
he  has  carefully  collected,  and  then  putting  the  facts 
in  the  strong  light  of  the  teaching  of  the  prophets  and 
the  teaching  of  Jesus.  No  one  illustrates  his  facts  by 
Scripture,  and  his  Scripture  by  his  facts,  more  effectively 
than  Mr.  William  Ward,  and  he  is  easily  first  among 
Brotherhood  speakers  in  the  use  he  makes  of  illustra- 
tions culled  from  the  poets.  The  men  at  such  meetings 
like  poetry  that  has  the  prophetic  note  and  the  note  of 
optimism  in  it.  Mr.  Ward's  two  books,  *'  How  Can  I 
Help  England  ?  "  and  "  Religion  and  Labour,"  contain 
collections  of  addresses  that  are  models  of  the  art  of 
practical  illustration.     Mr.  Ward  does  not  deal  much 

109 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

in  stories  as  stories,  but  there  is  a  story  in  the  intro- 
duction to  "  Religion  and  Labour "  which  is  perfect 
for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended. 

A  LESSON   IN   THE   SEWERS 

A  short  time  ago  one  of  the  members  of  the  London  County 
Council  brought  forward  a  resolution  which,  if  passed,  would  have 
pledged  the  Council  to  pay  to  the  whole  of  the  workmen  in  their 
employ  a  minimum  wage  of  thirty  shillings  per  week.  The  proposal 
met  with  strenuous  opposition  and,  on  being  put  to  the  vote,  was 
lost.  In  arguing  in  favour  of  his  resolution,  the  Labour  member 
had  pleaded  particularly  on  behalf  of  the  men  employed  in  the 
sewers.  He  contended  that  these  men  needed  special  considera- 
tion, owing  to  the  dangerous  and  disagreeable  character  of  their 
occupation  and  the  value  of  their  work  to  the  community.  He  was 
astounded  to  find  that  his  proposal  to  better  the  condition  of  the  men 
did  not  receive  the  support  of  a  member  who  was  well  known  as  a 
man  of  high  character,  actuated  by  lofty  and  noble  motives,  and 
prominently  identified  with  the  philanthropic  life  of  London.  The 
Labour  member  was  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  such  a  man 
could  hesitate  to  support  a  resolution  that  meant  doing  so  simple 
an  act  of  justice,  and  he  determined  to  find  out  the  reason,  which 
he  discovered  was  lack  of  knowledge  concerning  the  nature  of  the 
duties,  and  a  lack  of  serious  consideration  ;  also  that  the  sewer 
men  were  already  receiving  the  rate  of  pay  ordinarily  given  to  men 
for  doing  this  class  of  work.  "  Do  you  know  what  kind  of  work  it 
is  ?  "  asked  the  Labour  member.  **  Have  you  ever  been  down  a 
sewer?"  He  laughingly  repHed  that  he  had  not.  "  Well,  then," 
said  the  Labour  member,  "  will  you  come  with  me  down  one  of 
the  sewers  and  see  for  yourself  the  kind  of  work  these  men  do, 
often  while  you  and  I  are  asleep.  After  you  have  seen  it,  if  you 
still  think  it  is  not  worth  thirty  shillings  a  week,  I'll  admit  that  you 
were  justified  in  voting  against  it."  What  could  an  honourable  man 
do  but  accept  the  challenge  ?  Arrangements  were  accordingly  made, 
and  guided  by  one  of  the  sewermen,  the  excursion  was  undertaken. 
They  descended  a  sewer  through  a  manhole  in  Russell  Square. 
They  waded  through  indescribable  filth  and  had  to  protect  them- 
selves with  stout  sticks  from  the  innumerable  rats  with  which  the 

no 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

sewers  were  infested.  Sometimes  they  were  able  to  get  along 
fairly  comfortably  with  stooping  a  little,  but  in  some  parts  the 
sewer  was  so  low  they  had  to  stoop  considerably,  and  travelling 
was  particularly  painful  and  slow,  and  on  one  occasion  our  friend, 
who  is  six  feet  in  height,  got  wedged  in  one  of  the  four- feet  six-inch 
drains.  Every  now  and  then  an  unexpected  rush  of  water  would 
invade  the  sewer,  and  he  often  wondered  if  he  would  get  out  alive. 
After  wading  through  it  for  at  least  an  hour,  and  having  travelled 
upwards  of  a  mile,  they  emerged  through  a  manhole  in  Clerken- 
well.  "  Well,"  said  the  Labour  member,  when  they  saw  daylight 
once  more,  "  is  it  worth  thirty  shillings  a  week  ?  "  He  gasped,  "  I 
wouldn't  do  it  for  thirty  pounds  a  week.  I  shall  support  your 
resolution  next  time  you  bring  it  on."  And  he  did,  If  you  ask 
him  why  he  changed  his  mind,  he  will  tell  you  he  did  it  on  religious 
grounds. 

One  invaluable  result  of  the  Brotherhood  and  Adult 
School  movements  is  their  bringing  into  "  the  fighting 
line  "  of  distinguished  men  in  various  walks  of  life  such 
as  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Mr.  Jerome  K.  Jerome  and 
Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  M.P.,  v^ho  in  their  various  ways 
present  religion  in  its  practical  aspects,  and  by  their 
mere  presence  and  speech  at  the  meetings  make  an 
immense  impression  by  dissipating  the  notion  that  men 
of  science,  literature  and  affairs  have  rejected  religion. 
From  a  Brotherhood  address  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  I 
quote  an  extract,  and  add  a  little  sheaf  of  illustrations 
of  the  kind  to  which  men  eagerly  listen. 

A  PARABLE  OF  THE  POLES 

The  way  to  warm  up  tbe  Arctic  Ocean,  and  melt  all  the  ice  there, 
and  make  the  land  inhabitable,  would  be  to  submerge  the  Antarctic 
continent.  Why  ?  Whit  is  that  Antarctic  continent  ?  It  is  a 
tremendous  area,  abou',  one-fortieth  of  the  whole  circumference 
of  the  globe,  it  is  said,  and  it  is  piled  up  with  snow  and  ice,  moun- 
tains high ;  there  is  a  mountain  as  high  as  Mont  Blanc  at  the  fringe, 

III 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

and  in  the  interior  it  is  very  much  higher.  That  means  an  immense 
volume,  and  what  would  be  the  effect  if  that  became  liquid  and 
came  into  the  sea  ?  If  that  snow  and  ice  disappeared  the  ocean 
would  rise.  Moreover,  by  its  gravitative  attraction — I  do  not  know 
whether  everyone  will  follow  this,  but  you  know  that  all  matter 
attracts  all  other  matter  by  gra\'itative  attraction,  and  if  the  sea  is 
kept  piled  up  in  the  southern  hemisphere  in  that  frozen  condition  it 
is  much  higher  than  it  would  otherwise  be.  If  that  Antarctic 
continent  disappeared,  subsided,  was  submerged,  all  that  water, 
not  only  the  water  packed  up  as  snow,  but  the  water  of 
the  ocean,  attracted  by  this  gravitative  attraction,  would  be 
released  and  flow  up  here,  and  some  of  our  lowlands  would  be 
submerged.  In  addition,  the  Antarctic  Ocean  would  be  no  longer 
land-locked  ;  a  hot- water  circulation  from  the  tropics  would  belaid 
on.  and  the  Arctic  ice  would  disappear.  If  I  have  made  that  quite 
dear,  I  only  mean  it  as  a  parable — you  cannot  have  even  the 
North  Pole  isolated  from  the  South  Pole  ;  what  happens  to  one 
affects  the  other.  It  may  affect  it  for  good,  or  it  may  be  for  iU,  but 
it  affects  it.  So  it  is  with  us.  Our  life  cannot  be  isolated.  Whether 
we  are  millionaires,  or  whatever  we  are,  we  are  bound  up  with  the 
rest  of  the  human  race,  and  if  one  member  suffer,  all  suffer  with 
him  (i  Cor.  xii  26}. — Sir  Oliver  Lodge. 

SOMETHING  WRONG  WITH   THE   BAND 

WTiat  was  the  matter  with  the  orchestra  ?  Usually  it  was  in  fine 
form,  playing  with  exhilarating  spirit  and  the  delicacy  of  expression 
and  light  and  shade  that  revealed  men  who  had  music  in  their 
souls.  There  was  a  splendid  conductor,  who  wielded  a  baton  that 
the  men  watched,  and  he  infused  his  own  rapture  in  the  music 
into  the  band.  That  afternoon,  however,  nobody  paid  any 
attention  to  the  baton.  It  seemed  as  if  an  evil  spirit  had 
entered  into  every  man — a  spirit  of  disobedience,  of  jealousv,  of 
self-will.  A  programme  of  pieces  had  been  arranged,  but  nobody 
troubled  about  the  programme.  Each  man  chose  his  own  favourite 
solo,  and  they  all  played  their  solos  at  once,  each  getting  the 
greatest  noise  possible  out  of  his  instrument  so  as  to  dro-^Mi  the 
efforts  of  his  companions.  The  big  drummer  brought  his  stick 
down  with  thunderous  "  booms  "  on  the  beats  of  the  "  Marseil- 
laise," the  comet  blared  out  '"  The  Lost  Chord,"  the  trombonist 

112 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

nearly  split  his  cheeks  v.-ith  a  noisy  bit  of  the  "  Tannhauser " 
overture,  the  man  vrith  the  piccolo  shrilled  out  -with  ear-piercing 
gusto  "The  Campbells  are  coming,"  the  little  drum  kept  up  a 
continuous  mad  tattoo.  Each  man  was  playing  music,  but  the  net 
result  was  a  Bedlam  discord  '"'  Sweet  bells  jacgled  out  of  tune"' 
were  nothing  to  it  \Miat  had  happened  ?  ^^Tiy,  they  had  ceased 
to  be  '•  brethren  dwelling  together  in  unity  "  ;  there  was  no  longer 
any  unit>-  of  the  musical  faith  and  spirit  ;  they  had  said  to  each 
other,  about  the  conductor,  "  vre  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign 
over  us."  Even-body  put  his  hands  to  his  ears  and  fed  from  the 
hall.  The  ston-,  of  course,  is  a  parable.  In  industrial  life,  in 
political  life,  in  family  life,  in  church  life,  we  hear  the  same 
horribly  discordant  music  because  those  who  should  '•'  dwell 
together  in  unity  "  of  affection  and  in  lo\-ing  obedience  to  Christ 
the  great  example,  are  fighting  and  intriguing  for  their  own  selfish 
ends,  and  a  world  that  should  be  filled  with  heavenly  harmony  is 
filled  with  clashing  discords  that  send  shivers  through  the  soul  that 
has  become  sensitive  to  heavenly  song  and  symphony.  Let  us  call 
a  silence,  and  look  to  Jesus,  and  obey  His  bdian.  "  Let  earth  and 
heaven  agree,  angels  and  men  be  joir.ed  to  celebrate  with  me  the 
Saviour  of  Mankind"  fPs.  cxxxiii.  i ;  also  Eph,  iv.  3 — 13). — H.  Jeffs. 

GOD'S    HIDDEN   TREASURE 

Two  or  three  years  ago  it  was  my  pri\41ege  to  stand  opwDn  one  of 

the  most  interesting  spots  on  the  eanh's  surface,  on  the  lid  of  the 
world's  great  diamond  vault  in  Kimberiey.  There  beneath  my  feel 
were  uncounted  treasures,  and  yet  only  thirty  years  ago  no  one 
believed  there  were  any  diamonds  in  Kimberiey  ;  in  fact,  it  was 
ridiculed  by  the  wise  geologists  of  the  day,  who  said  it  was  uneriy 
impossible  that  diamonds  should  be  found  in  Kimberiey,  the 
stratification  of  the  soil  was  such,  and  the  configuration  of  the 
land  was  of  such  a  nature,  that  it  could  not  be  that  diamonds 
were  there.  The  few  precious  stones  which  had  been  found  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth  there  they  thought  must  have  been  brought 
by  someone  from  a  long  distance  in  the  interior,  and  somehow 
dropped  upon  the  soil  there.  Bu:  as  men  began  to  dig  beneath  the 
surface  they  found  more  diamonds,  and  as  they  went  deej>er  still 
they  found  more  diamonds  still ;  the  deeper  they  have  gone  into 
God's  great  diamond  vault  the  larger  are  the  diamonds  and  the  more 

113  H 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

precious  and  beautiful.  When  men  got  down  into  the  yellow  soil 
beneath  the  surface  they  found  more  glittering  gems,  and  when 
they  got  into  the  diamondiferous  blue  they  found  greater  treasures 
still.  God  has  been  showing  the  world  in  this  and  a  thousand 
other  ways  what  He  is  able  to  do.  He  can  keep  His  diamond 
vault  sealed  until  the  right  moment  comes  ;  for  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  years  He  can  padlock  the  vault,  but  the  time  comes 
when  His  time  is  ripe,  when  the  clock  has  struck,  for  the  lid  to  be 
lifted  off,  and  for  men's  eyes  to  be  dazzled  by  God's  hidden  treasure 
(2  Chron.  xxv.  9). — Dr.  F.  E.  Clark. 

KEEP   OUT   OF   DEBT 

"  Owe  no  man  anything."  It  is  that  young  couple,  and  they 
begin  life  on  a  competence — enough  if  they  would  be  modest 
in  their  requirements.  But  they  have  richer  friends,  and  they  think 
the  good  things  of  the  world  are  meant  for  them,  too.  Why  should 
they  not  have  them  ?  And  so  they  find  themselves  living  beyond 
their  income.  There  are  bills  they  cannot  pay,  and  then  begins 
that  long  period  of  bondage,  of  misery,  that  sense  of  guilt,  that 
misery  which  comes  when  we  cannot,  and  ought  not  to,  look 
people  in  the  face. 

*'  No  debtors'  hands  are  clean, 
However  white  they  be  ; 
Who  lives  and  pays  his  way 

True  gentleman  is  he  "  (Rom.  xiii.  8). — Dr.  Gore. 

THE   END    OF   THE    UNRETURNED    PRODIGAL 

There  was  one  born  to  a  title,  bearing  a  great  name,  beautiful 
in  outward  seeming,  a  man  for  whom  society  waited,  at  whose  feet 
it  was  prepared  to  fall  and  proclaim  him  indeed  a  genius  ;  and  he 
expressed  his  genius  in  poetry  that  many  still  admire,  and  all  then 
thought  wonderful.  He  expressed  it  in  dolorous  melodies,  and  by- 
and-by  in  darker  and  more  dismal  numbers.  He  had  a  home  that 
could  not  satisfy  ;  he  had  affection,  but  too  pure  to  be  esteemed;  he 
had  praises,  but  not  loud  and  fulsome  enough  to  be  precious  ;  he 
panted  for  vaster  things,  for  an  intenser  life.  And  then  he  went 
from  his  native  shores,  bidding  them  in  his  scorn,  "  Good-night," 
and  seeking,  as  he  phrased  it,  "  for  change  of  scene,  even  the 

114 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

shades  below."  In  a  moment  of  fired  and  transient  heroism  he 
sprang  to  call  an  ancient  people  to  arms,  but  sprang  too  late  into 
the  ranks  of  the  noble  and  chivalrous,  and  ere  his  sun  had  reached 
its  meridian  he  had  to  express  the  moral  of  his  life  in  the  miserable 
stanza : 

My  days  are  in  the  yellow  leat, 

The  fruits  and  flowers  of  love  are  gone ; 

The  worm,  the  casket  and  the  grave 

Are  mine  alone. 
The  light  that  on  my  bosom  plays 
Is  like  as  some  volcanic  isle, 
No  torch  is  lighted  at  the  blaze 
But  a  funereal  pile. 

(Luke  XV.  13).— Dr.  A.  M.  Fairbairn. 

DO   YOUR   OWN    BIT   OF   WORK 

On  the  walls  of  London  lately  a  new  kind  of  advertisement  has 
appeared.  There  is  only  a  face  and  a  hand  and  a  foot — nothing 
more.  I  never  see  that  without  thinking  it  resembles  the  life  of  a 
young  man.  He  sees  a  bit  here  and  there  of  his  destiny,  but  what 
is  to  weld  them  together  and  fill  in  he  does  not  see  yet,  but  he 
waits.  If  you  cannot  perceive  you  must  trust,  realising  that  God 
is  working  out  His  plan  in  the  little  things  of  daily  life.  He  does 
not  show  you  the  whole,  but  gives  you  the  glimpse  of  a  bit.  He 
says  :  "  Make  that  ;  do  yonder  piece  of  work,  which  lies  next  to 
your  hand.  Do  not  rush  it,  or  slur  it  ;  do  your  duty,  and  your 
best."  Thus,  as  every  day  we  fulfil  the  day's  demand,  we  fill  in  a 
little  more  of  the  perfect  plan,  and  suddenly  one  day,  as  we  are 
fulfilling  some  trivial  round,  it  will  prove  the  connecting  link,  and 
we  shall  find  all  the  disconnected  fragments  combined  in  perfect 
symmetry,  and  exclaim  :  "  I  never  saw  it  before,  but  I  perceive 
God's  purpose  in  my  life"  (John  ix.  4). — Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

STRENGTH  MULTIPLIED  IN  COMRADESHIP 

You  know  that  large  collection  of  errors,  the  multiplication  table 
It  is  as  full  of  mistakes  as  it  is  of  figures,  but  it  contains  no  bigger 
mistake  than  this,  that  twice  one  are  simply  two,  and  that  ten  times 
one  are  ten.     Nonsense  !     Twice  one  now  is  not  simply  two,  but 

115  H   2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

two  plus  their  unity.  Ten  men  working  together,  each  man  work- 
ing heartily,  what  have  you?  You  have  ten  times  one  man  plus 
the  unity — plus  the  enthusiasm  born  of  co-operation,  plus  all  the 
incalculable  energies  that  are  only  born  when  heart  is  joined  to 
heart  and  soul  is  joined  to  soul  (Eccles.  ii.  9, 10).— Rev.  J.  Morgan 
Gibbon. 

CHRIST'S  TRANSFORMING  KISSES 

There  is  an  old  wild  legend  that  tells  of  how  a  knight  found, 
coiling  round  a  tree  in  a  dismal  forest,  a  deathly  dragon  breathing 
out  poison  ;  and  how,  undeterred  by  its  hideousness  and  foulness, 
he  cast  his  arms  round  it  and  kissed  it  on  the  mouth.  Three  times 
he  did  it  undisgusted,  and  at  the  third  the  shape  changed  into 
a  fair  lady,  and  he  won  his  bride.  Christ  "  kisses  with  the  kisses 
of  His  mouth  "  His  enemies,  and  m.akes  them  His  friends  because 
He  loves  them  (Song  of  Songs  i.  2).— Dr.  Maclaren. 

ONE  COURAGEOUS  MAN 

I  remember  in  those  memoirs  of  Napoleon  which  Lord  Rosebery 
has  just  lately  brought  before  us  and  revived  again  in  our  minds* 
Napoleon  has  one  or  two  suggestions  to  offer  about  the  successful 
conduct  of  war,  and  there  is  one  suggestion  in  these  memoirs  which 
appeals  to  me  as  a  very  pertinent  thing  even  in  the  life  of  the  spirit. 
Napoleon  says  :  "  There  is  a  moment  in  every  great  war  when  the 
bravest  troops  feel  inclined  to  run  ;  it  is  the  want  of  confidence  in 
their  own  courage,"  and  then  Napoleon  says :  "  The  supreme  art  of 
generalship  is  to  know  just  when  that  moment  will  come  and  to 
provide  for  it.  At  Areola" — I  am  quoting  the  words  exactly — "  I 
won  the  battle  with  twenty-five  horsemen.  I  anticipated  the 
moment  of  fright  and  flight,  and  I  had  twenty-five  men  ready 
of  cool  nerve  and  decision,  and  just  at  the  appropriate  moment 
I  turned  the  twenty-five  into  the  host,  and  the  battle  was  won." 
Twenty-five  men  who  had  not  lost  their  nerv'e  brought  back  confi- 
dence to  a  host  who  were  inclined  for  fright  and  flight.  The  man 
who  was  cool  for  fight  brought  back  the  hordes  that  were  ready  for 
flight.  Has  that  no  analogy  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit  ?  One  brave 
member  of  a  family  may  save  the  whole  household  from  moral 
perdition  ;  one  young  fellow  in  a  warehouse  may  save  all  his  mates 
from  the  timidity  which  means  hell ;  one  fine,  brave  lad  in  a  school 

116 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

— will  the  lads  listen  to  this? — who  will  despise  all  meanness  and 
set  his  eyes  upon  the  true  and  follow  it,  may  gain  a  whole  form  for 
the  army  of  the  Lord  (Ps.  xxvii.  14). — Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

THE   EAGLE   IN   CAPTIVITY 

I  looked  not  long  ago  with  genuine  pity  on  a  noble  eagle,  caged 
in  a  public  park,  as  an  exhibition  for  schoolboys.  The  old  grey 
mountaineer  felt  its  galling  imprisonment  and  occasionally  flapped 
its  wings  as  if  it  v;ere  homesick  for  the  skies.  "  Loose  him  and  let 
him  go,"  was  the  thought  inspired  by  the  sorry  sight,  and  how  he 
would  have  sailed  off  to  fly  in  company  with  the  sun  !  Eagles  were 
not  born  for  slavery.  I  thought,  too,  as  I  looked  at  the  .chained 
bird,  how  much  he  resembled  some  fettered  souls,  yes,  some 
Christian  souls  that  are  terribly  tied  down  by  unbelief.  Too  many 
people  have  enrolled  themselves  in  the  Church — some  have  entered 
the  ministry — with  a  heavy  clog  that  binds  them  to  the  lower  earth. 
It  hampers  them,  hinders  them,  and  is  fatal  to  all  spiritual  joy  or 
growth  in  holiness  (John  xi.  44). —Dr.  Cuyler. 

THE   FORCE   OF   GENTLENESS 

I  read  a  story  not  long  ago  about  Richard  Weaver,  who  was  a 
great  Methodist  evangelist.  In  his  young  days  he  was  a  great 
pugilist.  He  was  always  getting  drunk,  and  then  quarrelling  with 
somebody,  until  he  was  hated  and  feared  by  all.  But  God  touched 
his  heart,  and  then  Richard  Weaver  became  a  changed  man.  He 
was  down  the  pit  one  day  and  saw  a  collier  trying  to  take  a  boy's 
waggon  from  him  by  force.  "  Tom,"  said  Weaver  to  him,  "  you 
mustn't  take  that  waggon."  The  man  swore  at  him  and  told  him 
he  would  push  the  waggon  over  him.  But  Weaver  took  hold  of  it, 
and  the  man  was  unable  to  move  it.  '*  I've  a  good  mind  to  smack 
thee  on  the  face,"  said  the  angry  collier.  "Well,"  said  Weaver, 
*'  if  that  will  do  thee  any  good,  thou  canst  do  it."  And  so  he 
struck  him  on  the  face.  Five  times  he  did  it,  and  then  turned  away 
cursing.  And  Weaver  cried  after  him,  "  The  Lord  forgive  thee, 
for  I  do  !  "  That  was  on  a  Saturday.  Monday  came,  and  when 
Weaver  came  back  to  work,  with  his  face  still  bruised  and  swollen 
from  the  blows  he  had  received,  the  first  man  he  met  with  was 
Tom — the  man  who  struck  him.      "  Good  morning,  Tom,"  said 

117 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Weaver  to  him,  but  lie  got  no  reply.  Tom  went  down  the  pit 
first ;  when  Weaver  followed  he  found  Tom  waiting  for  him  on  the 
waggon-way,  and  as  soon  as  Weaver  got  up  to  him,  he  burst  into 
tears  and  said,  "  Richard,  forgive  me  for  striking  you."  "  I  have 
forgiven  thee,"  was  Weaver's  reply,  and  with  that  he  gave  him  his 
hand.  Gentleness,  you  see,  was  repaid  with  gentleness  (Luke  vi.  29). 
—Rev.  J.  D.  Jones,  M.A.,  B.D. 

FAITHFUL   UNTO   DEATH 

There  was  an  old  gatekeeper  in  the  town  of  Yen  Shan.  He  was 
a  very  simple  man,  and  nobody  had  ever  credited  him  with  very 
special  religious  convictions,  but  he  knew  whom  he  had  believed, 
and  when  the  Boxers  came  they  set  the  old  man  in  the  middle  and 
began  to  torment  him  before  they  put  him  to  death.  They  asked 
him  to  sing  to  them,  and  in  a  quavering  voice — for  he  had  never 
learned  to  sing — he  began  to  sing  "  He  leadeth  me."  And  then  at 
the  end  they  called  for  more,  and  he  sang  "  Heaven  is  my  home." 
The  man  who  told  the  story  said  it  was  the  strangest  scene — this 
old  man  with  the  quavering  voice,  ringed  round  with  faces  that 
were  like  fiends  from  hell,  singing  in  their  midst,  "  Heaven  is  my 
home."   And  then  they  killed  him  (Rev.  ii.  10). — Rev.  C.  Silvester 

HORNE. 

The  growing  success  of  the  Brotherhoods  and  Adult 
Schools  is  building  up  a  bulwark  of  defence  against  the 
attacks  made  on  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest  and  worship. 
I  conclude  this  chapter  with  some  illustrations  of  the 
value  of  Sunday  to  the  working  man  and  the  community 
at  large. 

HOW   SUNDAY   CLEARS    THE    PATHS 

Away  in  the  Alps  in  the  winter  the  snow  falls,  and  in  a  very  few 
hours  road  and  pathway  and  mountain  track  will  be  absolutely 
blocked  out,  and  if  you  force  your  way  into  the  village  and  speak 
to  some  of  the  country  folk  concerning  it,  they  will  smile  and  say, 
"Wait  until  the  people  go  to  church  on  Sunday."  And  you  wait, 
and  on  Sunday  you  see,  there  from  the  house  on  the  heights,  there 
from  the  chalet  in  the  valley,  moving  dots  that  mean  men  dressed 

118 


Illustration  of  Addresses  to  Men 

in  brown,  or  women  clad  in  black,  and  all  turn  their  steps  to 
a  little  church,  whose  bell  echoes  through  the  mountains  and  sends 
its  reverberations  over  the  vastness  of  the  snow-clad  Alps  ;  and  as 
their  paths  converge  together,  the  people  tread  the  snow  under  foot 
and  trample  it  into  firmness,  so  that  those  on  the  heights  can  come 
down,  and  when  Monday  morning  comes  the  paths  and  tracks 
are  open  again,  and  sledges  can  go  up  and  down  in  comfort. 

My  brethren,  we  also  must  learn  a  lesson  from  the  people  of  the 
whitened  hills.  We  want  to  see  to  it  that  when  we  are  seeking  the 
best  and  highest  for  ourselves,  that  which  we  do  not  only  opens  a 
way  for  other  people  to  follow  us  into  the  presence  of  Christ,  but 
that  all  that  we  do  confers  some  benefit  upon  the  common  roads 
and  ordinary  ways  and  everyday  doings  of  humanity  (Mark  ii.  27). 
— Rev.  J.  G.  Stevenson. 

SUNDAY  enrich:\ient  of  all  life 

There  is  a  myth  concerning  an  old  painter,  that  by  a  happy 
chance  he  compounded  one  day  a  certain  mordant,  which,  colour- 
less itself,  possessed  the  power  of  heightening  every  colour  with 
which  it  was  mixed.  By  the  help  of  his  discovery,  from  being  a 
commonplace  artist  he  rose  to  the  position  of  a  noted  master. 
His  works  were  renowned  for  the  marvellous  brilliancy  of  their  tints. 
On  his  canvas  were  produced,  in  exactest  hue,  the  waving  emerald 
of  the  forest,  the  silver  gleam  of  the  river,  the  rosy  light  of  the 
sunset,  and  the  infinite  azure  of  the  sky.  Everywhere  and  always 
the  charm  of  the  picture  was  due  to  that  colourless  fuse  of  colour 
which  by  its  strange  alchemy  transfigured  the  crudeness  and  the 
coarseness  of  the  common  tint.  It  is  not  mere  ecclesiastical  pre- 
judice which  asserts  that  the  Christian  Sabbath  has  silently  and 
similarly  wrought  vigour  and  attractiveness  and  power  into  our 
modern  life.  All  fair-minded  judges  pronounce  it  our  social 
mordant.  Unrecognised  in  its  workings,  the  Christian  Sabbath 
is  the  element  that  has  wrought  out  the  choice  beauty  of  the  things 
of  which  we  boast  in  our  civilisation  (Mark  ii.  27), — Dr.  D.  Gregg. 

SUNDAY  AS  A  DISINFECTANT 

There  is  a  great  humanising,  disinfecting  effect  in  our  Sunday 
services  that  in  the  aggregate  it  would  be  hard  to  compute.  If 
thousands  of  tons  of  quicklime  were  to  be  strewn  in  the  gutters  of 

119 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

a  plague-stricken  city,  a  handful  at  a  time,  the  purifying  effect 
would  afford  a  good  simile.  I  believe  that  if  on  Saturday  night  our 
police  judges  could  sentence  to  church  those  miserable  objects  that 
appear  in  their  courts  on  Monday  morning,  they  would  have  no 
occasion  to  hold  police  courts  on  Monday  morning  (Mark  ii.  27). — 
Rev.  John  F.  Cowan. 

SLAVES  OF  THE  MINE 

Years  ago  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  mining  regions  of  Pennsylvania 
at  the  time  of  a  threatened  strike.  I  said  to  one  of  the  miners, 
"  Why  don't  you  go  out  West,  and  take  a  farm  and  work  there, 
and  be  independent  ?"  He  replied,  **  We  don't  want  to  work  out- 
of-doors.  We  want  to  work  down  in  the  mines,  where  it  is  nice 
and  dark,  and  the  sun  doesn't  shine,  and  it  isn't  hot,  and  when  it 
rains  we  are  dry."  When  I  see  a  man  to  whom  God  has  said, 
"  You  may  have  one  day  on  the  hilltop,  where  the  birds  are  singing 
and  the  sun  is  shining,  and  the  heavens  are  full  of  the  liberty  of 
the  glory  of  the  sons  of  God — when  I  see  him  sit  down  and  read 
the  Sunday  paper  full  of  the  news  of  the  factory  and  the  market, 
and  the  turmoil  and  strife  of  politics,  I  think,  "  There  is  another 
miner  who  doesn't  care  to  live  out-of-doors"  (Exod.  xx.  8). — 
Dr.  Lyman  Abbott. 


Z20 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FLOWERS   FROM   OLD   ENGLISH    GARDENS 

Illustrations  are  not  plants  that  do  well  when 
bedded  out  from  the  garden  plots  of  an  earlier  age  into 
the  preacher's  garden  of  our  own  times.  The  best 
illustrations  are  those  that  grow  in  the  soil,  and  in 
the  atmosphere,  of  the  time  in  which  they  are  used. 
Still  it  is  interesting  to  study  the  preachers  of  former 
times  and  to  note  their  methods  of  illustration.  The 
sermon  volumes  of  the  eighteenth  century  are  arid 
reading.  In  the  early  part  of  that  century  the  chilly 
air  of  rationalism  was  fatal  to  the  feeling  which 
generates  illustrations.  The  appeal  of  the  preachers 
was  to  the  head  and  not  to  the  heart.  There  was  no 
mysticism  in  religion,  no  poetry,  no  New  Jerusalem  all 
radiant  with  jasper  walls  and  with  foundations  of 
precious  stones.  As  there  was  no  deep  feeling,  senti- 
ment and  humour  were  alike  lacking,  for  humour  is  the 
sunny  side  of  sentiment.  Later  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  the  ice  of  the  long  winter  of  rationalism 
began  to  melt  in  the  spring  of  the  Evangelical  Revival, 
flowers  began  to  bloom  again  in  the  preachers'  gardens; 
but  Whitefield  and  John  Wesley  were  far  too  intent  on 
getting  souls  saved  to  give  much  attention  to  the  orna- 
mentation of  their  sermons.  We  have  to  go  back  into 
the  seventeenth  century  to  find  preachers  who  were 
masters  of  the  art  of  illustration.     Such  masters  there 

121 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

were  indeed  even  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when  the 
early  Protestant  preachers  were  making  their  messages 
known  to  "  the  common  people,"  to  whom  the  open 
Bible  was  a  wonderful  new  revelation.  Honest  Hugh 
Latimer,  like  Luther  in  Germany,  was  rich  in  homely 
illustrations  drawn  from  common  life,  and  some- 
times his  illustrations  were  amazingly  audacious.  In 
his  famous  "  Card  Sermon  "  he  drew  upon  the  pack  of 
cards  and  the  gambling  methods  of  the  time  to  play  a 
winning  game  with  the  sinners  whose  souls  he  was 
seeking.  When  denouncing  the  absenteeism  of  bishops 
and  clergy  who  were  negligent  shepherds,  he  held  up  to 
them  the  devil  as  a  model  bishop  who  was  always  in 
his  diocese  and  always  at  work.  Such  illustrations 
drove  in  his  teaching  as  a  hammer  drives  in  nails,  and 
none  who  heard  them  could  ever  forget  them.  Let  us 
confine  ourselves,  however,  to  the  seventeenth  century. 
A  search  through  the  volumes  of  the  great  Anglican 
and  Nonconformist  preachers,  down  to  the  time  when 
the  first  chilly  blasts  of  rationalism  began  to  be  felt, 
discovers  a  rich  store  of  illustrations  racy  of  the  soil  in 
which  they  were  grown.  We  soon  find  that  the  seven- 
teenth century  preachers  were  very  scholarly  men. 
They  had  the  contents  of  the  Bible  at  their  finger  ends, 
but  they  knew  the  classical  writers  of  Greece  and  Rome 
almost  as  well  as  they  knew  the  Bible.  They  seem  to 
have  read  everything  in  Greek  and  Latin  literature, 
from  Homer  and  Herodotus,  Virgil  and  Tacitus,  down 
to  the  decadent  writers  of  the  latest  age.  We  are  dazed 
by  the  display  of  their  learning,  and  amazed  and  amused 
at  the  use  they  made  of  it  in  the  illustration  of  their 

122 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

sermons.  We  wonder  what  the  congregations  made  of 
their  classical  illustrations.  Doubtless  the  congrega- 
tions liked  to  hear  them  as  evidences  of  the  weight  of 
learning  of  the  preachers,  and  as  compliments  paid  to 
their  own  intelligence,  but  it  is  permitted  to  question 
whether  the  illustrations  did  not  oftener  confuse  than 
enlighten.  Often  they  quote  passages  in  Greek,  Latin, 
or  Hebrew,  without  troubling  to  translate  them  for  the 
benefit  of  the  congregation.  And  they  continually 
introduce  names  and  references,  assuming  that  the 
congregation  will  readily  understand  them  without 
explanation,  as,  for  instance,  Jeremy  Taylor,  condemn- 
ing contemporary  fondness  for  fashions,  says,  "  Menan- 
der  in  the  comedy  brings  in  a  man  turning  his  wife 
from  his  house  because  she  stained  her  hair  yellow, 
which  was  then  the  beauty " ;  and  in  his  "  Apples  of 
Sodom"  sermon,  "What  man  is  there  in  the  world 
that  thinks  himself  covetous  or  proud  ?  and  yet  millions 
there  are  who,  like  Heiphaste,  think  that  the  house  is 
dark  but  not  themselves."  Thomas  Adams  shows  him- 
self a  prodigy  of  classic  learning,  which  he  pours  out  in 
such  illustrations  as  these:  "Philip  was  wont  to  say 
that  an  ass  laden  with  gold  would  enter  the  gates  of 
any  city,  but  the  golden  loads  of  bribes  and  extortions 
shall  bar  a  man  out  of  the  city  of  God.  All  that  is  so 
gotten  is  like  quicksilver,  it  will  be  running."  "The 
Christian  seeks,  like  Mary,  that  better  part  which  shall 
never  be  taken  from  him.  The  wise  man's  mind  is 
ever  above  the  moon,  saith  Seneca.  Let  the  moon 
make  never  so  great  a  noise  as  if  it  all  ran  upon  coaches, 
and  all  these  full  of  roarers,  yet  all  peace  is  there." 

123 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

The  pedantry  of  classical  quotation  disfigures  the  ser- 
mons of  most  of  the  early  and  middle  seventeenth 
century  preachers,  but  we  do  in  some  of  them  find 
plenty  of  native  English  wildflow^ers. 

Foremost  among  these  is  Jeremy  Taylor,  who  has 
been  styled  "  the  Shakespeare  of  the  English  pulpit." 
As  a  prose  writer,  Taylor  is  the  Ruskin  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  His  imagination  runs  riot,  and  he 
often  indulges  in  illustrations  with  such  prodigality  that 
his  hearers  must  have  been  embarrassed  by  the  riches 
placed  at  their  disposal. 

Some  of  the  illustrations,  however,  are  brief  enough, 
little  more  than  a  simile,  as  "He  that  wishes  his  sin  big 
and  prosperous  wishes  his  bee  as  big  as  a  bull  and  his 
hedgehog  like  an  elephant " ;  "  Great  knowledge,  if  it 
be  without  vanity,  is  the  most  severe  bridle  of  the 
tongue.  For  so  have  I  heard  that  all  the  noises  and 
prating  of  the  pool,  the  croaking  of  frogs  and  toads,  is 
hushed  and  appeased  upon  the  instant  of  bringing  upon 
them  the  light  of  a  candle  or  a  torch."  Jeremy  Taylor 
was  not  gifted  with  a  sense  of  humour,  or  he  might  have 
avoided  such  remarkable  illustrations  as  that  in  which 
he  says  some  men  never  trouble  about  religion  until 
they  are  sick  or  in  adversity,  '*  as  the  hog  never  sees 
the  sky  until  it  is  turned  upon  its  back." 

When  we  come,  however,  to  Jeremy  Taylor's  extended 
illustrations,  then  we  understand  why  he  has  been  called 
the  Shakespeare  of  the  English  pulpit.  They  are  pure 
poetry,  "linked  sweetness  long  drawn  out"  ;  and  there 
is  a  dash  of  Milton  as  well  as  Shakespeare.  Peculiar 
to  Jeremy  Taylor  is  the  opening  **  So  have  I  seen," 

124 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

evidently  an  imitation  of  the  epic  simile  method  of 
Homer  and  Virgil.  Readers  will  thank  me  for  extract- 
ing four  examples  of  Jeremy  Taylor's  illustrations, 
showing  the  characteristics  that  have  been  described. 

SOARING  PRAYER 

Anger  is  a  perfect  alienation  of  the  mind  from  prayer,  and 
therefore  is  contrary  to  that  attention,  which  presents  our  prayers 
in  a  right  line  to  God.  For  so  have  I  seen  a  lark  rising  from  his 
bed  of  grass,  and  soaring  upwards,  singing  as  he  rises,  and  hopes 
to  get  to  heaven,  and  climb  above  the  clouds  ;  but  the  poor  bird 
was  beaten  back  with  the  loud  sighings  of  an  eastern  wind,  and 
his  motion  made  irregular  and  inconstant,  descending  more  at 
every  breath  of  the  tempest,  than  it  could  recover  by  the  libration 
and  frequent  weighing  of  his  wings  ;  till  the  little  creature  was 
forced  to  sit  down  and  pant,  and  stay  till  the  slorm  was  over,  and 
then  it  made  a  prosperous  flight,  and  did  rise  and  sing  as  if  it  had 
learned  music  and  motion  from  an  angel,  as  he  passed  sometimes 
through  the  air  about  his  ministries  here  below :  so  is  the  prayer 
of  a  good  man  ;  when  his  affairs  have  required  business,  and  his 
business  was  matter  of  discipline,  and  his  discipline  was  to  pass 
upon  a  sinning  person,  or  had  a  design  of  charity,  his  duty  met 
with  infirmities  of  a  man,  and  anger  was  its  instrument,  and  the 
instrument  became  stronger  than  the  prime  agent,  and  raised  a 
tempest  and  overruled  the  man  ;  and  then  his  prayer  was  broken, 
and  his  thoughts  were  troubled,  and  his  words  went  up  towards  a 
cloud,  and  his  thoughts  pulled  them  back  again,  and  made  them 
without  intention  ;  and  the  good  man  sighs  for  his  infirmity,  but 
must  be  content  to  lose  the  prayer,  and  he  must  recover  it,  when 
his  anger  is  removed,  and  his  spirit  is  becalmed,  made  even  as  the 
brow  of  Jesus,  and  smooth  like  the  heart  of  God  ;  and  then  it 
ascends  to  heaven  upon  the  wings  of  the  holy  dove,  and  dvsells 
with  God,  till  it  returns  like  the  useful  bee,  loaden  wiih  a  blessing 
and  the  dew  of  heaven  (John  ix.  31). 

ABOUNDING    GRACE 

Pardon  of  sins  is  a  grace  that  the  most  holy  persons  beg  of  God 
with  mighty  pai-.sion,  and  labour  for  with  a  great  diligence,  and 

12^ 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

expect  with  trembling  fears,  and  concerning  it  many  times  suffer 
sadness  with  uncertain  souls,  and  receive  it  by  degrees,  and  it 
enters  upon  them  by  little  portions,  and  it  is  broken  as  their  sighs 
and  sleeps.  But  so  have  I  seen  the  returning  sea  enter  upon  the 
strand ;  and  the  waters  rolling  towards  the  shore,  throw  up  little 
portions  of  the  tide,  and  retire  as  if  Nature  meant  to  play,  and  not 
to  change  the  abode  of  waters  ;  but  still  the  flood  crept  by  little 
steppings,  and  invaded  more  by  his  progressions  than  he  lost  by 
his  retreat,  and  having  told  the  number  of  its  steps,  it  possesses  its 
new  portion  till  the  angel  calls  it  back,  that  it  may  leave  its 
unfaithful  dwelling  of  the  sand  :  so  is  the  pardon  of  our  sin  ;  it 
comes  by  slow  motions,,  and  first  quits  a  present  death,  and  turns, 
it  may  be,  into  a  sharp  sickness  ;  and  if  that  sickness  prove  not 
health  to  the  soul  it  washes  off,  and  it  may  be  will  dash  against  the 
rock  again,  and  proceed  to  take  off  the  several  instances  of  anger 
and  the  periods  of  wrath  ;  but  all  this  while  it  is  uncertain  con- 
cerning our  final  interest,  whether  it  be  ebb  or  flood ;  and  every 
hearty  prayer,  and  every  bountiful  alms,  still  enlarges  the  pardon,  or 
adds  a  degree  of  probability  and  hope  ;  neglect  of  religion  makes 
the  pardon  retire  ;  and  while  it  is  disputed  between  Christ  and 
Christ's  enemy  who  shall  be  Lord,  the  pardon  fluctuates  like  the 
wave,  striving  to  climb  the  rock,  and  is  washed  off  like  its  own 
retinue,  and  it  gets  possession  by  time  and  uncertainty,  by  difficulty 
and  the  degrees  of  a  hard  progression  (Heb.  xii.  28,  29). 

PREVAILING   PRAYER 

The  river  that  runs  slow  and  creeps  by  the  banks,  and  begs  leave 
of  every  turf  to  let  it  pass,  is  drawn  into  little  hoUownesses,  and 
spends  itself  in  smaller  portions,  and  dies  with  diversion  ;  but  when 
it  runs  with  vigorousness  and  a  full  stream,  and  breaks  down  every 
obstacle,  making  it  even  as  its  own  brow,  it  stays  not  to  be  tempted 
by  little  avocations,  and  to  creep  into  holes,  but  runs  into  the  sea 
through  full  and  useful  channels  :  So  is  a  man's  prayer.  If  it 
moves  upon  the  feet  of  an  abated  appetite,  it  wanders  into  the 
society  of  every  trifling  accident,  and  stays  at  the  corners  of  the 
fancy,  and  talks  with  every  object  it  meets,  and  cannot  arrive  at 
Heaven  ;  but  when  it  is  carried  upon  the  wings  of  passion  and 
strong  desires,  a  swift  motion  and  a  hungry  appetite,  it  passes  on 
through  all  the  intermedial  regions  of  clouds,  and  stays  not  till  it 

126 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

dwells  at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  where  mercy  sits,   and  thence 
sends  holy  showers  of  refreshment  (Eph.  vi.  i8). 

THE  MUSIC  OF  THANKSGIVING 

So  have  I  seen  the  sun  kiss  the  frozen  earth,  which  was  bound 
up  with  the  images  of  death,  and  the  colder  breath  of  the  north  ; 
and  then  the  waters  break  from  their  enclosures,  and  melt  with 
joy,  and  run  in  useful  channels  ;  and  the  flies  do  rise  again  from 
their  little  graves  in  walls,  and  dance  a  while  in  the  air,  to  tell  that 
there  is  joy  within,  and  that  the  great  mother  of  creatures  will  open 
the  stock  of  her  new  refreshment,  become  useful  to  mankind,  and 
sing  praises  to  her  Redeemer  :  so  is  the  heart  of  a  sorrowful  man 
under  the  discourses  of  a  wise  comforter ;  he  breaks  from  the 
despairs  of  the  grave,  and  the  fetters  and  chains  of  sorrow ;  he 
blesses  God,  and  he  blesses  thee,  and  he  feels  his  life  returning  ; 
for  to  be  miserable  is  death,  but  nothing  is  life  but  to  be  com- 
forted ;  and  God  is  pleased  with  no  musick  from  below,  so  much  as 
in  the  thanksgiving  songs  of  relieved  widows,  of  supported  orphans, 
of  rejoicing  and  comforted  and  thankful  persons  (Isa.  Ixi.  3). 

The  sermons  of  Thomas  Adams  were  repubhshed  in 
1861,  in  three  volumes.  He  was  minister  of  St.  Benets 
in  the  City.  Even  his  titles  are  illustrations.  For 
instance,  two  sermons  on  Gen.  xxvii.  are  entitled 
"  Politic  Hunting  "  and  "  Plain  Dealing."  Four  ser- 
mons on  Prov.  ix.  17 — 18  are  entitled  "The  Fatal 
Banquet,"  with  a  sub-title  to  each,  viz.,  "  The  First 
Service,"  "  The  Second  Service,"  "  The  Breaking  up 
of  the  Feast,"  "  The  Shot."  The  sermon  on  Eccles.  ix.  3 
is  entitled  "The  Mystical  Bedlam."  Adams  has  a  dry 
humour  which  he  often  uses  with  good  effect,  as  the 
following  illustrations  will  show  : — 

PRAY    AND    FIGHT 

Fables  are  not  without  their  useful  morals.  A  boy  was  molested 
with  a  dog  j  the  friar  taught  him  to  say  a  gospel  by  heart,  and 

127 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illttstration 

warranted  this  to  allay  the  dog's  fury.  The  mastiff,  spying  the 
boy,  flies  at  him ;  he  begins,  as  it  were,  to  conjure  him  with  his 
gospel.  The  dog,  not  capable  of  religion,  approacheth  more 
violently.  A  neighbour  passing  by  bids  the  boy  take  up  a  stone  ; 
he  did  so,  and  throwing  it  at  the  dog,  escaped.  The  friar  demands 
of  the  lad  how  he  sped  with  his  charm.  "Sir,"  quoth  he,  "your 
gospel  was  good,  but  a  stone  with  the  gospel  did  the  deed."  The 
curs  of  Antichrist  are  not  afraid  of  our  gospel,  but  of  our  stones  : 
let  us  fight  and  they  will  fly  (Judges  v.  8,  9). 

GREAT  VOWS  AND   SMALL  PERFORMANCE 

It  is  storied  of  a  merchant  that  in  a  great  storm  at  sea  he  vowed 
to  Jupiter  if  he  would  save  him  and  his  vessel,  to  give  him  a  heca- 
tomb. The  storm  ceaseth,  and  he  bethinks  that  a  hecatomb  was 
unreasonable  ;  he  resolves  on  seven  oxen.  Another  tempest  comes, 
and  now  he  vows  again  the  seven  at  least.  Delivered  then  also, 
he  thought  that  seven  were  too  many,  and  one  ox  would  serve  the 
turn.  Yet  another  peril  comes,  and  now  he  vows  solemnly  to  fall 
no  lower  ;  if  he  might  be  rescued,  an  ox  Jupiter  shall  have.  Again 
freed,  the  ox  sticks  in  his  stomach,  and  he  would  fain  draw  his 
devotion  to  a  lower  rate  ;  a  sheep  was  sufficient.  But  at  last  being 
set  ashore,  he  thought  a  sheep  too  much,  and  purposeth  to  carry  to 
the  altar  only  a  few  dates.  But  by  the  way  he  eats  up  the  dates, 
and  lays  on  the  altar  only  a  few  shells.  After  this  rate  do  many 
perform  their  vows.  They  promise  whole  hecatombs  in  sickness, 
but  they  reduce  them  lower  and  lower  still  as  they  grow  well 
(Ps.  Ixvi.  13). 

MAN'S   INGRATITUDE 

There  is  a  story  of  a  poor  man  that  went  often  to  a  forest  to 
gather  sticks,  where  suddenly  one  day  he  heard  the  voice  of  a  man 
in  distress.  Making  towards  it,  he  found  a  rich  neighbour  fallen 
into  a  deep  pit ;  and  together  with  him  an  ape,  a  lion,  and  a  serpent. 
He  made  his  moan,  being  endangered  both  of  the  pit  and  of  the 
beasts.  Pity  and  charity  moved  the  poor  man  to  help  the  rich, 
and  that  seldom  moves  the  rich  to  help  the  poor.  He  lets  down 
the  cord  wherewith  he  bound  his  sticks,  and  up  comes  the  ape. 
Again  he  puts  for  the  man,  and  the  lion  ascends.  A  third  ofler  he 
makes,  and  the  serpent  takes  the  advantage.     Last  he  draweth  up 

128 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

the  man,  who,  freed  by  his  help  from  instant  death,  promised  him 
a  bounteous  requital,  if  on  the  next  day  he  did  visit  him.  The  poor 
man  affying  his  word,  came  to  him  accordingly  in  a  hopeful 
expectation  of  reward.  But  now  the  rich  man  would  not  know 
him.  He  hath  forgotten  that  ever  he  stood  in  any  need  of  him, 
and  impudently  denies  him  any  recompense.  The  discomforted 
poor  man  is  fain  to  travel  the  forest  again  for  his  fuel,  where  the 
ape  spying  him,  had  ready  broken,  with  his  teeth  and  nails,  sticks 
enough  for  his  burden  ;  there  was  his  utmost  gratitude.  Anothei 
day  coming,  the  lion  approacheth  him,  presenting  to  him  divers 
laden  camels,  which  driving  home  and  disburdening,  he  found 
precious  treasure  that  enriched  him.  A  third  time,  upon  other 
occasions  travelling  the  forest,  the  serpent,  creeping,  salutes  him 
with  a  precious  stone  in  her  mouth,  letting  it  fall  at  her  saver's 
feet.  The  intent  of  the  fable  is  to  demonstrate  that  beasts  and 
serpents  condemn  man  of  ingratitude  (Ps.  cxviii.  27). 

THE  PRINT   OF  THE  WOUNDS 

It  is  storied  of  a  certain  king,  that  fighting  a  desperate  battle, 
for  the  recovery  of  his  daughter  injuriously  stolen  from  him,  found 
ill  success,  and  the  day  utterly  against  him  ;  till  by  the  faithful 
valour  of  a  strange  prince,  disguised  in  habit  of  a  mean  soldier, 
that  pitied  his  loss,  and  bore  love  to  his  daughter,  he  recovered 
both  her  and  victory,  the  prince  interposing  himself  to  hazard  of 
death  and  many  wounds  for  the  other's  redemption.  Not  long 
after,  this  prince  received  some  wrong  concerning  his  honour, 
which  he  deservedly  prized.  He  made  his  complaint  to  the  king, 
and  besought  him  to  give  a  just  censure  of  his  cause.  The  forgetful 
king  put  him  over  to  a  judge.  The  prince  replies,  **  O  king,  when 
thou  wast  lost,  I  endangered  myself  for  thy  rescue  ;  I  did  not  bid 
another  save  thee,  but  I  saved  thee  myself.  Lo,  the  scars  of  those 
wounds  I  bore  to  free  thee  and  thy  state  from  inevitable  ruin. 
And  now  my  suit  is  before  thee,  dost  thou  shuffle  me  off  to  another  ?  " 
(John  XX.  25). 

«  BUT ! " 

As  in  a  fair  summer's  morning,  when  the  lark  hath  called  up  the 
sun,  and  the  sun  the  husbandman ;  when  the  earth  hath  opened 
her  shop  of  perfumes,  and  a  pleasant  wind  fans  coolness  through 

129  I 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

the  air ;  when  every  creature  is  rejoiced  at  the  heart,  on  a  sudden 
the  furious  winds  burst  from  their  prisons,  the  thunder  rends  the 
clouds,  and  makes  way  for  the  lightning,  and  the  spouts  of  heaven 
stream  down  showers ;  a  hideous  tempest  sooner  damps  all  the 
former  delight  than  a  man's  tongue  can  well  repress  it.  With  no 
less  content  do  these  guests  of  sin  pass  their  life  ;  they  eat  to  eat, 
drink  to  drink,  often  to  sleep,  always  to  surfeit ;  they  carol,  dance, 
spend  their  present  joys,  and  promise  themselves  infallible  supply. 
On  a  sudden  this  but  comes  like  an  unlooked-for  storm,  and  turns 
all  into  mourning,  and  such  mourning  as  Rachael  had  for  her 
children,  that  will  not  be  comforted,  because  their  joys  are  not 
(Eccles.  xi.  9). 

A  seventeenth  century  preacher  who  was  a  great 
favourite  with  Charles  H addon  Spurgeon  was  Thomas 
Brooks,  who  made  it  his  special  business  to  track  Satan 
through  his  windings,  and  to  expose  the  subtle  snares 
by  which  he  sought  to  trap  the  soul  of  the  unwary 
sinner.  Brooks  had  the  soul  of  a  poet.  Like  Jeremy 
Taylor,  he  heaps  illustration  on  illustration,  seeming  to 
strip  whole  gardens  of  their  flowers  in  order  to  deck  his 
sermons  and  writings.  The  modern  preacher  will 
possibly  find  himself  able  to  adapt  some  of  Brooks's 
illustrations  to  present  use  much  more  easily  than  he 
could  those  of  Jeremy  Taylor  or  Adams.  Here  is  a 
little  bunch  of  simple  flowers  from  Brooks's  garden  : — 

THE  SOUL'S   LOOKING-GLASS 

It  was  a  speech  of  a  German  divine  in  his  sickness  :  '*  In  this 
disease  I  have  learned  how  great  God  is,  and  what  the  evil  of  sin  is  ; 
I  never  knew  to  purpose  what  God  was  before,  nor  what  sin  meant, 
till  now."  Afflictions  are  a  crystal  glass,  wherein  the  soul  hath  the 
clearest  sight  of  the  ugly  face  of  sin.  In  this  glass  the  soul  comes 
to  see  sin  to  be  but  a  bitter  sweet ;  yea,  in  this  glass  the  soul  comes 
to  see  sin  not  only  to  be  an  evil,  but  to  be  the  greatest  evil  in  the 
world,  to  be  an  evil  far  worse  than  hell  itself  (Heb.  ii.  10). 

130 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

DAY   COLDNESS   AND   MIDNIGHT  WARMTH 

I  have  read  of  a  fountain  that  at  noonday  is  cold,  and  at  mid- 
night it  grows  warm  ;  so  many  a  precious  soul  is  cold  Godwards 
and  heavenwards  and  holinesswards,  in  the  day  of  prosperity, 
that  grows  warm  Godwards  and  heavenwards  and  holinesswards 
in  the  midnight  of  adversity  (Heb.  xii.  6,  7). 

THE   STARS   IN   THE   PUDDLE 

Although  you  see  the  stars  sometimes  by  their  reflections  in  a 
puddle,  or  in  the  bottom  of  a  well,  aye  in  a  ditch,  yet  the  stars  have 
their  situation  in  heaven.  So,  though  you  see  a  godly  man  in  a 
poor,  miserable,  low,  despised  condition  for  the  things  of  this  world, 
yet  he  is  fixed  in  Heaven,  in  the  region  of  Heaven.  "  Who  hath 
raised  us  up,"  saith  the  apostle,  "and  made  us  sit  together  in 
heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus"  (Eph.  ii.  6). 

OUR  ADVOCATE 

Mrs.  Catherine  Bretterege  once,  after  a  great  conflict  with  Satan, 
said,  "Reason  not  with  me,  I  am  but  a  weak  woman  ;  if  thou  hast 
anything  to  say,  say  it  to  my  Christ ;  He  is  my  Advocate,  my 
strength,  and  my  Redeemer,  and  He  shall  plead  for  me"  (i  John  ii.  i). 

ROSES  AND    GARLIC 

They  say  roses  grow  the  sweeter  when  they  are  planted  by 
garlic.  They  are  sweet  and  rare  Christians  indeed  who  hold  their 
goodness,  and  grow  in  goodness,  where  wickedness  sits  on  the 
throne;  and  such  a  one  the  young  man  Abijah,  the  son  of  Jeroboam, 
in  the  text  was. 

To  be  wheat  among  tares,  corn  among  chaff,  pearls  among 
cockles,  and  roses  among  thorns,  is  excellent. 

To  be  a  Jonathan  in  Saul's  court,  to  be  an  Obadiah  in  Ahab's 
court,  to  be  an  Ebed-melech  in  Zedekiah's  court,  and  to  be  an 
Abijah  in  Jeroboam's  court,  is  a  wonder,  a  miracle. 

To  be  a  Lot  in  Sodom,  to  be  an  Abraham  in  Chaldea,  to  be  a 
Daniel  in  Babylon,  to  be  a  Nehemiah  in  Damascus,  and  to  be  a 
Job  in  the  land  of  Husse,  is  to  be  a  saint  among  devils ;  and  such 
a  one  the  young  man  in  the  text  was. 

131  I  a 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

The  poets  affirm  that  Venus  never  appeared  so  beauteous  as 
when  she  sat  by  black  Vulcan's  side.  Gracious  souls  shine  most 
clear  when  they  be  set  by  black-conditioned  persons.  Stephen's 
face  never  shined  so  angelically,  so  gloriously,  in  the  church  where 
all  were  virtuous,  as  before  the  council  where  all  were  vicious  and 
malicious  (i  Kings  xiv.  13). 

THE  OLD  DISCIPLE 

It  is  a  very  great  honour  to  be  an  old  disciple.  Now  this  honour 
none  reach  to,  but  such  as  are  converted  betimes,  but  such  as 
turn  to  the  Lord  in  the  spring  and  morning  of  their  youth.  It 
is  no  honour  for  an  old  man  to  be  in  short  coats,  nor  for  an  old 
man  to  be  a  babe  in  grace.  An  A  B  C  old  man  is  a  sad  and 
shameful  sight.  Oh  !  but  it  is  a  mighty  honour  to  be  a  man,  when 
he  is  old,  that  he  can  date  his  conversion  from  the  morning  of  his 
youth  (Jer.  iii.  4). 


"FOR  HE  HAD  GREAT  POSSESSIONS" 

The  young  man  in  the  Gospel  took  many  a  step  towards  Heaven. 
"  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up.  What  lack  I 
yet.'"'  (Matt.  xix.  16 — 24).  Christ  makes  a  very  fair  offer  to  him  in 
the  next  words  :  "Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go 
and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have 
itreasure  in  Heaven  ;  and  come  and  follow  Me."  Thou  shalt  have 
Heaven  for  earth,  a  sea  for  a  drop,  a  treasure  for  a  mite,  a  crown  for 
a  crumb.  Ay,  but  the  young  man's  affections  were  strongly  engaged 
to  the  things  of  the  world,  and  therefore  he  turns  his  back  upon 
Christ,  and  goes  away  sorrowful,  because  he  had  great  possessions. 
Though  the  loadstone  cannot  draw  the  iron  when  the  diamond  is 
in  presence,  yet  earthly  possessions  did  draw  this  young  man's  soul 
away  when  Christ  the  pearl  of  price  was  present.  The  world  is  a 
silken  net,  and  this  young  man  found  it  so  ;  the  world  is  like  sweet 
poison,  and  this  young  man  found  it  so ;  for  he  had  drunk  so  large 
a  draught  of  it,  that  there  was  no  room  in  his  soul  for  Christ,  or 
Heaven,  for  grace  or  glory.  Some  say,  that  when  the  serpent  Sey- 
tale  cannot  overtake  the  flying  passenger,  she  doth  with  her 
beautiful  colours  so  astonish  and  amaze  them,  that  they  have  no 

132 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

power  to  pass  away  till  she  have  stung  them.  Such  a  serpent  the 
world  proved  to  the  young  man  in  the  Gospel ;  it  did  so  affect  him 
and  take  him,  so  amaze  him  and  amuse  him,  that  he  could  not  stir 
till  it  stung  him  to  death  (Matt.  xix.  i6 — 24). 

There  was  no  sweeter  spirit  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury than  Richard  Baxter  who  "sought  peace  and 
ensued  it "  in  a  time  when  party  drew  the  sword 
against  party,  and  sect  against  sect,  with  a  fury 
unexampled  in  English  history.  Baxter's  masterpiece, 
"  The  Saint's  Everlasting  Rest,"  was  once,  next  to 
"  The  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  the  most  eagerly  read 
book  in  every  Christian  English  home.  It  is  a  book 
that  might  well  be  read  in  our  own  time  when  the 
swords  of  the  churches  are  again  too  frequently 
drawn  against  each  other.  A  famous  anecdote  of 
Baxter  is  that  of  his  retort  to  the  savage  Judge  Jeffreys. 
Baxter  was  before  the  judge  as  a  Nonconformist  and 
Jeffreys  said,  **  Richard,  Richard,  I  see  a  rogue  in  thy 
face."  Even  a  saint  will  turn,  and  Baxter's  instant 
reply  was,  '*  My  lord,  I  never  knew  till  now  that  my 
face  was  a  mirror."  We  are  dealing,  however,  with 
illustrations,  and  the  seventeenth  century  bouquet 
would  lack  completeness  if  there  were  no  examples 
of  Baxter.  He  is  not  so  much  a  poet  as  a  practical 
preacher,  and  of  the  two  illustrations  selected  the  first 
may  well  be  taken  to  heart  by  preachers  of  to-day  who 
fail  to  realise  the  heavy  responsibility  of  their  calling. 

COLD-BLOODED  PREACHING 

If  you  be  busy,  writing  or  reading,  and  one  friend  comes  to  you 
to  call  you  away  to  some  great  business,  and  useth  very  weighty 
arguments,    yet    if    he    speak    them    coldly    and    sleepily,    you 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

perhaps  may  not  be  moved  by  him  ;  but  if  another  come  and  call 
you  but  upon  a  lesser  business,  and  speak  loud  and  earnestly,  and 
will  take  no  denial,  though  his  reasons  be  weaker,  he  may  sooner 
prevail.  Do  we  not  feel  that  the  words  of  a  preacher  do  take  more 
with  our  wills  and  affections,  from  the  moving  pathetical  manner 
of  expression,  than  from  the  strength  of  argument  (except  with  very 
wise  men)  at  least,  how  much  that  furthers  it,  when  the  best 
arguments  in  the  mouth  of  a  sleepy  preacher,  or  unseasonably  and 
ill-favouredly  delivered  will  not  take  ?  And  why  should  we  think 
that  there  is  so  great  a  difference  between  other  men's  reasonings 
prevailing  with  our  wills,  and  our  own  reason's  way  of  prevailing  ? 
(2  Cor.  V.  20). 

HID  WITH   CHRIST   IN   GOD 

Can  a  man  be  at  the  fire,  and  not  be  warm  ?  or  in  the  sunshine 
and  not  have  light  ?  Can  your  heart  be  in  Heaven,  and  not  have 
comfort  ?  The  countries  of  Norway,  Iceland,  and  all  the  north- 
ward, are  cold  and  frozen,  because  they  are  farther  from  the  power 
of  the  sun  ;  but  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  the  southern  parts,  it  is  far 
otherwise,  where  they  live  more  near  its  powerful  rays.  What 
could  make  such  frozen  uncomfortable  Christians,  but  living  so  far 
as  they  do  from  Heaven  ?  And  what  makes  some  few  others  so 
warm  in  comforts  but  their  living  higher  than  others  do  ?  And 
their  frequent  access  so  near  to  God  ?  When  the  sun  in  the 
spring  draws  near  our  part  of  the  earth,  how  do  all  things  con- 
gratulate its  approach?  The  earth  looks  green  and  casteth  off 
her  mourning  habit ;  the  trees  shoot  forth  ;  the  plants  revive  ;  the 
pretty  birds  how  sweetly  sing  they  ;  the  face  of  all  things  smiles 
upon  us,  and  all  the  creatures  below  rejoice.  Beloved  friends,  if 
we  would  but  try  this  life  with  God,  and  would  but  keep  these 
hearts  above,  what  a  spring  of  joy  would  be  within  us,  and  all  our 
graces  be  fresh  and  green  !  (Col.  iii.  3). 

Other  seventeenth  century  sermon  illustrators  who 
deserve  rLpitsentation  in  this  bouquet  of  flowers  are 
Henry  Smith,  known  by  his  contemporaries  as  *'  Silver- 
tongued  Smith,"  David  Clark,  who  is  as  poetical  as 
Brooks,  and  the  rarely  quaint  Thomas  Fuller. 

134 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

OWLISH     INQUIRERS 

As  an  owl  peeps  at  the  sun  out  of  a  barn,  but  dares  not  come  to 
it,  so  we  peep  at  religion  and  will  not  come  near  it,  but  stand 
aloof  off,  pinking  and  winking,  as  though  we  were  more  afraid  of 
God  than  the  devil.  For  self-love  and  regard  of  persons,  and  fear 
of  laws,  and  sway  of  time,  more  are  afraid  to  be  too  holy  than  to  be 
profane,  because  holiness  is  worse  entreated  than  profaneness. 
(Acts  xxvi.  27,  28). — Henry  Smith, 

"ALMOST"  BORN 

What  is  it  to  be  born  almost  ?  If  the  new  man  be  but  born 
almost  he  is  not  born.  What  is  it  to  be  married  almost  unto 
Christ  ?  He  which  is  married  but  almost  is  not  married.  What 
is  it  to  offer  sacrifice  almost  ?  The  sacrifice  must  be  killed  ere 
ever  it  can  be  sacrificed.  He  which  gives  almost  gives  not,  but 
denieth.  He  which  believeth  almost  believeth  not,  but  doubteth. 
Can  the  door  which  is  almost  shut  keep  out  the  thief.'*  Can  the 
cup  which  is  but  almost  whole  hold  any  wine?  Can  the  ship  which 
is  but  almost  sound  keep  out  water?  The  soldier  which  doth 
almost  fight  is  a  coward.  The  physician  which  doth  but  almost 
cure  is  but  a  slubberer.  The  servant  which  doth  almost  labour  is 
a  loiterer.  I  cannot  tell  what  to  make  of  these  defectives,  nor 
where  to  place  them,  nor  how  to  call  them,  nor  unto  what  to  liken 
them  (Acts  xxvi.  27).— Henry  Smith. 

PRYING   INTO  THE   INCOMPREHENSIBLE 

Commonly  the  simplest  men  busy  their  heads  about  the  highest 
matters  ;  so  that  if  they  meet  with  a  rough  and  crabbed  question, 
like  a  knob  in  the  tree,  and  while  they  hack  and  hew  at  it  with 
their  own  wits  to  make  it  plain,  their  saw  sticks  fast  in  the  cleft, 
and  cannot  get  out  again  ;  at  last  in  wrath  they  become  like  mal- 
contents with  God,  as  though  the  Scripture  were  not  perfect,  and 
either  fall  into  despair  or  into  contempt  of  all.  Therefore  it  is 
good  to  leave  off  learning  where  God  has  left  off  teaching  ;  for 
they  which  have  an  ear  where  God  hath  no  tongue,  hearken  not 
unto  God  but  to  the  tempter,  as  Eve  did  to  the  serpent  (Mark  ix. 
38— 40).— Henry  Smith. 

135 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

GOD'S  WORD   MADE  CURRENT   COIN 

The  Gospel  preached  is  the  Word  of  God,  not  of  man,  though 
by  man  ;  God  is  the  fountain,  man  but  the  conduit  pipe  ;  He  the 
Author,  man  the  instrument ;  it  is  the  sun  His  light,  they  the 
medium.  He  gives  His  Word  in  Scripture  as  a  lump  of  precious 
metal,  more  precious  than  gold,  appoints  ministers  to  beat  it  out 
into  large  plates  ;  and  as  gold  is  the  same  in  the  lump  and  mass 
and  in  the  plate,  so  is  the  Word  the  same  Word  of  God  as  it  is  read 
and  as  it  is  preached ;  He  gives  us  His  Word  in  the  Scriptures  as 
honey  in  the  comb,  He  appoints  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  to 
squeeze  it  out,  it  is  the  same  honey  in  the  comb  as  out.  Only  take 
this  caution,  that  the  Gospel  preached  be  received  as  the  Word  of 
God,  it  is  required  he  that  preaches  it  should  be  sent  by  God, 
invested  with  His  authority,  appointed  to  be  His  vicegerent,  sent 
as  ambassador  from  Him,  otherwise  doctrine  agreeable  to  God's 
Word  cannot  be  delivered  authoritatively  as  the  Word  of  God  ;  it  is 
like  silver,  though  precious  in  itself,  yet  not  current,  not  money, 
without  the  magistrate's  stamp  and  impression  (Luke  viii.  i8). — 
David  Clarkson. 

THE  TWO  HANDLES  OF   FAITH 

That  God  is  willing  and  able  are  two  ansas^  two  handles,  on 
which  both  the  hands  of  faith  may  take  hold,  and  so  act  more 
strongly  (as  we  do)  than  if  it  use  but  one.  A  man  ready  to  drown, 
if  he  can  lay  hold  upon  anything  with  both  hands  to  keep  him  from 
sinking,  is  more  secure  than  if  he  can  but  stay  himself  by  one. 
Faith  is  but  weak  when  it  fastens  but  upon  one  of  these ;  the 
doubting  of  either  will  keep  off  faith  from  its  steadfastness. 
Martha's  faith  was  not  steadfast  Qohn  xi.)  when  she  questioned 
whether  Christ  was  able  ;  and  the  leper's  faith  staggered  when  he 
doubted  whether  Christ  was  willing  (Matt.  viii.  2)  :  "  If  Thou  wilt, 
Thou  canst." — David  Clarkson. 

THE  OFFERED  JEWEL 

If  a  man  should  hold  out  his  hand  and  offer  you  a  jewel,  you 
would  think  that  a  sufficient  ground  to  take  it,  though  he  should 
not  express  by  any  special  qualifications  that  he  intended  it  for  you 

136 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

in  particular ;  nay,  though  he  should  speak  never  a  word,  yet  being 
one  who  is  not  wont  to  delude  any,  his  holding  it  out  and  offering 
it  to  you  would  be  a  sufficient  encouragement  to  receive  it.  So  it 
is  here :  the  Lord  holds  out  Christ  to  humbled  sinners  in  the 
general  offers  of  the  Gospel ;  and  He  never  is  wont  to  delude  any, 
much  less  those  that  are  returning  to  Him.  Is  not  His  offer  a 
sufficient  ground  for  you  to  receive  what  He  offers  ?  (Rev.  xxii.  17). 
— David  Clarkson. 

WASTED   TIME 

Coming  hastily  into  a  chamber,  I  had  almost  thrown  down  a 
crystal  hour-glass.  Fear  lest  I  had  made  me  grieve  as  if  I  had 
broken  it.  But,  alas  !  how  much  precious  time  have  I  cast  away 
without  any  regret !  The  hour-glass  was  but  crystal,  each  hour  a 
pearl ;  that  but  like  to  be  broken,  this  lost  outright  ;  that  but 
casually,  this  done  wilfully.  A  better  hour-glass  might  be  bought ; 
but  time  lost  once,  lost  ever.  Thus  we  grieve  more  for  toys  than 
for  treasure.  Lord,  give  me  an  hour-glass,  not  to  be  by  me,  but  to 
be  in  me.  *'  Teach  me  to  number  my  days."  An  hour-glass,  to 
turn  me,  "that  I  may  apply  my  heart  to  wisdom''  (Eph.  v.  16). — 
Thomas  Fuller. 

"WE   LOOK   FOR  A  CITY" 

Travelling  on  the  plain  (which,  notwithstanding,  hath  its  risings 
and  fallings),  I  discovered  Salisbury  steeple  many  miles  off. 
Coming  to  a  declivity  I  lost  the  steeple  thereof ;  but  climbing 
up  the  next  hill,  the  steeple  grew  out  of  the  ground  again.  Yea,  I 
often  found  it,  and  lost  it,  till  at  last  I  came  safely  to  it,  and  took 
my  lodging  near  it.  It  fareth  thus  with  us,  whilst  we  are  way- 
faring to  Heaven  ;  mounted  on  the  Pisgah-top  of  some  good 
meditation,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  our  celestial  Canaan  ;  but  when 
either  on  the  flat  of  an  ordinary  temper,  or  in  the  fall  of  some 
extraordinary  temptation,  we  lose  the  view  thereof.  Thus  in  the 
sight  of  our  soul  Heaven  is  discovered,  covered,  and  recovered  ; 
till,  though  late,  at  last,  though  slowly,  surely,  we  arrive  at  the 
haven  of  our  happiness  (Heb.  xi.  10). — Thomas  Fuller. 

GREEN   WHEN   GREY 
In  September  I  saw  a  tree  bearing  roses,  while  others  of  the  same 
kind  round  about  it  were  barren.     Demanding  the  cause  of  the 

^Z7 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

gardener  why  that  tree  was  an  exception  to  the  rule  of  the  rest,  this 
was  rendered  :  because  that  alone  being  clipped  close  in  May,  was 
then  hindered  to  spring  and  sprout,  and  therefore  took  this  advan-' 
tage  by  itself  to  bud  in  autumn.  Lord,  if  I  were  curbed  and' 
snipped  in  my  younger  days,  by  fear  of  my  parents,  from  those 
vicious  excrescences  to  which  that  age  was  subject,  give  me  to' 
have  a  godly  jealousy  over  my  heart,  suspecting  an  autumn  spring,! 
lest  corrupt  nature  (which  without  Thy  restraining  grace  will  havei 
a  vent)  break  forth  in  my  reduced  years  into  youthful  vanities) 
(Ps.  xc.  12  ;  also  Ps.  xcii.  13,  14).— Thomas  Fuller. 

INIQUITIES    OVER  THE   HEAD 

I  have  observed  that  children,  when  they  put  on  new  shoes,  are 
very  curious  to  keep  them  clean.  Scarce  will  they  set  their  feet  onj 
the  ground  for  fear  to  dirty  the  soles  of  their  shoes.  Yea,  rather 
they  will  wipe  the  leather  clean  with  their  coats,  and  yet  perchance 
the  next  day  they  will  tramp  with  the  same  shoes  in  the  mire  up  to 
the  ankles.  Alas  !  children's  play  is  our  earnest.  On  that  day' 
wherein  we  receive  the  Sacrament  we  are  often  over-precise,* 
scrupling  to  say  or  do  those  things  which  lawfully  we  may.  But 
we,  who  are  more  than  curious  that  day,  are  not  so  much  as 
careful  the  next,  and  too  often  (what  shall  I  say  ?)  go  on  in  sin  up 
to  the  ankles  ;  yea,  our  sins  go  over  our  heads  (Ps.  xxxviii.  4). — 
Thomas  Fuller. 

Study  of  the  seventeenth  century  preachers  inspires 
us  with  an  immense  respect  for  the  men  who  pressed 
into  their  preaching  all  the  power  of  brains  cultivated 
to  the  highest  pitch,  and  all  the  intensity  of  their  devout 
souls.  Such  study  raises  the  question  whether  preachers 
of  to-day  sufficiently  credit  their  congregations  with 
intelligence  to  receive  and  digest  the  best  that  it  is  in 
them  to  give.  Modern  congregations  possibly  have 
neither  the  patience  nor  the  appetite  to  receive  and 
digest  sermons  so  full  of  meat  and  marrow  as  those  of 
the  seventeenth  century  preachers ;  but  is  it  not  true 

138 


Flowers  from  Old  English  Gardens 

that  much  of  the  absenteeism  of  men  from  public  worship 
in  these  days  is  due  to  their  complaint  that  the  meat 
given  IS  not  nourishing  enough,  and  that  the  sermons 
give  them  so  little  to  feed  their  minds  and  set  their 
imagination  at  work  ?  If  men  such  as  Jeremy  Taylor, 
Adams  and  Brooks  preached  to-day,  what  use  they 
would  make  in  the  way  of  illustration  of  the  wealth 
placed  at  their  disposal  by  modern  literature,  modern 
science  and  modern  industrial  conditions !  The  men  of 
England  will  be  won  back  to  the  churches  when  the 
preachers  feed  their  minds  and  hearts  alike  with 
appetising  and  nourishing  food. 


139 


APPENDIX  I 

ILLUSTRATED   OUTLINES   OF 
SERMONS 

L— A   BASKET   OF   FRUIT 

"  But  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance  "(Gal.  v.  22,  23). 

What  a  lovely  basket  of  summer  fruit !  And  it  is 
mixed  fruits,  not  a  basket  of  apples,  or  pears,  or  grapes 
only.  In  a  horticultural  show  you  will  see  plates  of 
particular  fruits,  to  which  prizes  have  been  awarded. 
Sometimes  you  will  see  a  plate  heaped  up  with  all  kinds 
of  fruit,  to  which  a  prize  has  been  given  for  the  best 
assortment.  All  the  prizes  offered  in  the  Heavenly 
Horticultural  Exhibition  are  for  collections  of  mixed 
fruits.  The  fact  is  that  in  spiritual  horticulture  it  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  grow  one  kind  without 
the  others.  It  is  true  we  have  the  figure  of  Jesus  as  the 
vine,  and  we  as  the  branches ;  but  the  branches,  vita- 
lised by  the  Divine  sap,  bear  all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit. 
John,  in  his  vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  saw  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  the  Tree  of  Life,  "  which  bare  twelve 
manner  of  fruits,"  and  you  will  note  that  it  yielded  its 

141 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

fruit  every  month — that  is,  it  was  always  bearing.  The 
trouble  is,  that  so  many  Christians  think  they  can  make 
a  fair  show  of  one  kind  of  fruit,  without  trying  to  grow 
the  rest.  A  man,  for  instance,  will  specialise  on 
temperance,  in  the  limited  modern  acceptation  of 
temperance,  and  he  might  feel  disposed  to  enter  as  a 
competitor  in  the  Heavenly  Horticultural  Show  in  the 
class  "  Temperance  " ;  but  when  it  came  to  long-suifer- 
ing,  gentleness,  meekness,  he  would  probably  say, 
"  H'mph,  no ;  I  don't  think  I  have  anything  worth 
showing  in  those  classes.** 

You  will  note  that  the  text  begins  with  a  "but." 
The  "  but "  implies  comparison  and  contrast.  The 
comparison  is  with  "  the  fruits  of  the  flesh "  ;  and 
what  a  dreadful  catalogue  of  these  fruits  Paul  gives 
us  !  Before  we  grow  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  we  must 
clear  the  ground  and  pluck  up  the  roots  of  the  trees 
that  bear  the  fruits  of  the  flesh.  I  read  in  the 
memoirs  of  a  country  vicar  that  he  found  the  glebe-land 
had  been  neglected  for  years,  and  the  soil  was  so  knotted 
with  squitch  and  bindweed,  and  so  choked  and  poisoned 
with  rank  weeds,  that  it  took  a  very  long  time  to  clear 
it  and  prepare  it  for  the  production  of  useful  crops.  It 
is  just  so  with  the  heart  of  man.  The  evil  growths  have 
to  be  plucked  up  by  the  roots,  and  this  is  a  painful  pro- 
cess, that  will  leave  the  heart  bleeding — so  painful  that 
many  content  themselves  with  just  cutting  down  the 
plants  to  the  surface  of  the  ground.  No  wonder  the 
plants  soon  begin  to  shoot  up  again  and  choke  the 
plants  which  should  be  bearing  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit. 

Before  fruit  there  is  blossom,  but  blossom  does  not 

142 


Appendix  I 

always  form  itself  into  fruit.  All  Wales,  during  the 
revival,  was  pink  and  white  with  blossom,  but  much  of 
it  was  blighted  and  frost-bitten  before  the  time  of  the 
ingathering  of  the  ripened  fruit.  The  blossom  is  often 
frost-bitten  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  cold  church. 

In  the  g2nd  Psalm  there  is  a  beautiful  promise  that 
"  those  that  be  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  shall 
still  bring  forth  fruit  in  their  old  age."  This  reminds 
us  again  of  John's  Tree  of  Life  that  bore  fruit  all  the 
year  round.  Sometimes  you  will  go  into  a  garden  and 
find  an  old  fruit  tree  with  gnarled  trunk,  and  the 
owner  will  tell  you,  "  That  tree  used  to  bear  splendid 
apples,  but  it  has  seen  its  best  days  and  bears  little  or 
nothing  now.  I  shall  have  it  cut  down."  The  trees  in 
the  Lord's  garden,  however,  the  older  they  get  are  the 
more  fruitful.  Their  boughs  are  never  so  heavily  laden, 
nor  with  such  luscious  fruit,  as  when  they  are 
approaching  the  end  of  the  allotted  span  of  earthly 
life. 

How  shall  we  be  fruit-bearers  ?  Only  by  union  with 
Him  who  is  the  vine.  The  closer  our  communion  with 
God  the  more  fruitful  are  we.  If  we  are  bearing  little 
fruit,  and  that  of  poor  quality,  it  shows  that  our  attach- 
ment to  the  vine  is  a  very  slender  one.  There  are  some 
who  bear  fruit  indeed,  but  it  is  scarcely  worth  the 
gathering.  There  are  apples,  but  they  are  crab-apples, 
and  unfortunately  the  crab-apple  crop  in  the  churches 
is  often  too  plentiful;  there  are  pears,  but  they  are 
tasteless  and  woody.  Let  us  all  aim  to  be  fruit-bearers, 
and  we  shall  be  helping  to  convert  the  world  into 
**  Eden  the  Garden  of  God." 

143 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

II.— *'HE   WROTE   ON    THE    GROUND' 

"But  Jesus  stooped  down  and  with  His  finger  wrote  on  the 
ground  as  though  He  heard  them  not"  (John  viii.  6). 

This  is  the  only  bit  of  writing  by  Jesus  that  is 
recorded ;  and  even  here  we  do  not  know  what  Jesus 
wrote  on  the  ground.  It  would  have  been  interesting 
to  know  what  He  wrote ;  but  it  is  of  thrilling  interest 
to  know  what  He  said  and  what  He  did.  Jesus  stands 
before  us  in  the  circle  of  the  self-righteous  scribes  and 
Pharisees,  with  the  shrinking  and  shame-faced  woman 
who  was  a  sinner,  and  He  shows  Himself  to  be  the 
soul  of  chivalry,  the  Gentleman  of  gentlemen.  He 
was  infinite  purity,  the  woman  was  stained  with  sin ; 
but  she  was  not  more  sinful  than  the  whited  sepulchres 
who  accused  her.  Jesus  wrote  on  the  ground  and 
spoke,  and  again  He  wrote  on  the  ground,  and  the 
convicted  hypocrites  slunk  away  leaving  Him  alone 
with  the  woman.  One  question  He  asked  her  and 
received  her  answer,  and  spoke  the  word:  "  Neither  do 
I  condemn  thee.     Go,  and  sin  no  more." 

What  does  it  matter  that  we  know  not  what  He 
wrote  ?  We  know  what  He  was  and  what  He  says,  and 
every  repentant  sinner  is  to  "  go,  and  sin  no  more." 
Has  the  world  outgrown  the  need  of  His  message  ? 
Suppose  Jesus  to-day  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  circle 
of  money-makers,  the  men  engaged  in  trade  and  com- 
merce who  are  growing  rich  by  practising  '*  the  tricks 
of  the  trade,"  and  they  dragged  into  the  circle  some 
cowering,  shabbily-dressed  wretch  whom  they  accused 
of  pilfering,  and  perhaps  snatching  the  watch  from  the 

144 


Appendix  I 

pocket  of  one  of  the  burly  gentlemen  standing  around. 
The  big  sinner  whose  sins  are  respectable  is  in  every 
age  the  most  merciless  judge  of  the  man  whose  sins  are 
of  the  vulgar  order.  The  magistrate  on  the  bench  may 
be  a  director  of  the  brewery  whose  beer  has  maddened 
the  disorderly  drunkard  in  the  dock ;  or  he  may  be  a 
shareholder  in  some  company  that  systematically  over- 
works and  underpays  its  employees,  and  one  of  the 
employees  has  been  tempted  to  theft  or  embezzle- 
ment ;  or  he  may  be  the  owner  of  rack-rented  slum 
property  that  is  the  haunt  of  vicious  people ;  but  the 
drunkard,  the  embezzler,  the  immoral  person  before 
him  will  get  stern  justice  from  the  magistrate.  The 
fashionable  lady  gives  a  wide  berth  to  the  flaunting 
Magdalen  of  the  pavement ;  but  that  woman  may  have 
been  led  into  her  evil  life  by  the  terrible  hardships  she 
endured  in  a  sweated  industry.  Suppose  to-day  the 
eminently  respectable  rich  and  the  ornaments  of  fashion- 
able society  formed  a  ring,  and  the  criminal  or  the 
vicious  person  stood  in  the  centre  with  Jesus.  What 
would  He  write  on  the  ground  ?  To  Jesus  sin  is  sin  in 
the  mansion  as  well  as  in  the  cottage  ;  in  the  West-end 
square  as  well  as  in  the  Bermondsey  courts  and  alleys ; 
and  He  would  read  the  hearts  of  those  who  stood 
around,  as  well  as  the  hearts  of  those  with  Him 
in  the  centre;  and  it  may  be  now,  as  then,  that 
when  He  wrote  on  the  ground  and  then  stood  and 
invited  the  guiltless  to  cast  the  first  stone,  the  circle 
would  dissolve  like  snow  in  the  sunshine,  and  only  the 
vulgar  criminal  or  vicious  person  would  remain.  Not 
**  the    righteous*,"    by   which   Jesus    meant    the    self- 

^^  K 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

righteous,  but  the  sinner  Jesus  came  to  save ;  and  the 
sinner,  when  he  stands  alone  with  Jesus,  feels  His 
eyes  piercing  through,  realises  the  infinite  pity  in  His 
heart,  sees  the  foulness  of  his  own  life  in  the  white 
radiance  of  His  purity,  then  he  is  broken  down,  and 
goes  away  with  bowed  head  and  His  words  ringing 
in  his  ears,  "  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee ;  go,  and  sin 
no  more." 

Jesus  is  always  in  our  midst,  and  always  the  crowd  is 
gathering  around  some  trembling,  wretched  sinner.  Some 
crime  or  some  scandal  fills  the  columns  of  the  papers 
with  sensational  news,  over  which  the  readers  gloat,  and 
the  circulation  of  the  paper  mounts  up  by  thousands. 
Everybody  as  he  reads  drapes  himself  in  his  robe  of 
self-righteousness  and  wonders  that  such  things  can  be 
in  this  Christian  land.  They  stand  around  the  sinner, 
pointing  the  finger  of  scorn  and  demanding  that  justice 
be  done.  Suppose  Jesus  stood  by  the  side  of  the  sinner 
and  wrote  on  the  ground.  How  many,  when  He  rose 
and  asked  the  one  whose  conscience  was  clear  of  offence 
to  cast  the  first  stone,  would  dare  to  remain  and  look 
steadfastly  into  the  mild  eyes  of  the  Master  ?  We  need 
to  search  our  own  hearts  and  see  what  evil  thing  there 
is  in  us  and  to  look  upon  our  fellow  sinners  with  the 
Master's  eyes.  It  may  be  that  then,  instead  of  walking 
away,  we  should  step  into  the  dock,  as  Hawthorne's 
minister  did  in  "The  Scarlet  Letter,"  and  take  our 
stand  by  the  side  of  the  sinner*  If  we  did  so,  surely 
the  Master  would  speak  the  same  words  to  us  both : 
*'  Go,  and  sin  no  more,*' 


146 


Appendix  I 

III.— THE   MULTITUDE   AND  THE   MAN 

'*  But  when  He  saw  the  multitudes  He  was  moved  with  compassion 
on  them,  because  they  fainted,  and  were  scattered  abroad  as  sheep 
having  no  shepherd  "  (Matt.  ix.  36). 

From  the  window  of  my  room  in  Fleet  Street,  on 
Lord  Mayor's  Show  day,  I  saw  the  pageant  of  English 
men  of  letters,  poets  and  dramatists,  with  characters 
from  their  works,  and  English  men  of  music.  It  was  a 
brilliant  show,  and  had  more  brains  put  into  its  con- 
ception and  execution  than  is  usual  with  Lord  Mayor's 
Shows.  Much  more  interesting  than  the  show,  how- 
ever, was  the  crowd.  The  crowd  lined  the  pavements 
of  Fleet  Street  twenty  to  twenty-five  deep,  and  was 
densely  packed  to  a  depth  of  something  like  fifty  yards 
up  Chancery  Lane.  It  occurred  to  me,  as  it  has  often 
occurred  in  bustling  Fleet  Street,  that  every  man  and 
woman  in  that  crowd  was  a  story,  a  drama,  a  poem 
incarnate.  The  crowd  as  a  crowd  suggests  little  except 
mass  and  number.  All  the  romantic  interest,  all  the 
possibilities  of  comedy  and  tragedy,  were  in  the 
individuals. 

The  multitudes,  the  crowds,  flocked  to  Jesus,  while 
He  was  in  the  flesh,  and  He  was  the  first  wnc  in  the 
crowd  clearly  saw  and  understood  the  individual.  If 
you  read  the  chapter  from  which  the  text  has  been 
taken,  you  will  discover  why  Jesus  was  able  to  dis- 
tinguish the  man  and  the  woman  in  the  crowd.  He 
had  been  dealing  with  the  individuals — had  healed  the 
woman  with  the  issue  of  blood,  had  given  back  living 
to  the  ruler  his  dead  daughter,  had  opened  the  eyes  of 

147  K  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

the  two  blind  men,  had  cast  out  the  devil  from  the 
dumb  man  and  given  the  man  speech.  Jesus  under- 
stood that  the  crowd  was  made  up  of  individuals  who 
needed  helping,  and  His  heart  went  out  to  the  indi- 
viduals. Nineteen  centuries  have  passed,  and  the  crowd 
is  ever  with  us  ;  and  to-day  the  crowd  is  making  its  voice 
heard,  often  in  tones  of  menace.  The  crowd  is  becoming 
conscious  of  its  rights,  perhaps  more  conscious  of  its 
rights  than  of  its  responsibilities.  How  do  we  regard 
the  crowd  ?  Is  it  only  a  mass  and  number  of  humanity 
to  us,  or  is  it  composed  of  men  and  women  who  have 
hearts  to  feel,  bodies  to  suffer  pain,  souls  to  be  saved  or 
lost  ?  Parliament,  Government  departments,  county 
and  borough  councils  administer  laws  and  levy  rates, 
churches  gather  congregations,  and  ministers  preach 
to  the  crowd.  Perhaps  if  in  our  minds  we  took 
samples  of  the  crowd  and  thought  more  of  the  man  and 
the  woman,  we  should  be  more  successful  in  our  attempts 
to  deal  with  the  mass.  In  the  mass  too  often  we  sum 
up  the  crowd  in  a  phrase,  as  the  Northern  Farmer  who 
said,  "  The  poor  in  a  lump  is  bad."  The  upper  classes 
are  luxurious  and  tyrannical,  the  middle  classes  are 
snobbish  and  vulgar,  the  working  classes  are  sottish, 
ignorant  and  lazy — so  we  sum  up  the  crowd.  We 
ourselves,  of  course,  stand  outside  the  crowd  and  are 
no  part  of  it.  If  we  could  only  imaginatively  see 
ourselves  in  the  crowd  and  take  ourselves  as  a  sample 
of  it,  our  political,  social  reform  and  religious  activities 
might  be  a  good  deal  more  successful,  for  then  we 
should  understand  the  needs  of  the  crowd,  because 
in  the  crowd  we  were  studying  ourselves. 

148 


Appendix  I 

"  Jesus  was  moved  with  compassion,  because  they 
fainted."  Oh,  that  hungry,  fainting,  helpless  crowd — 
what  a  problem  it  is !  There  are  some  who  think  the 
crowd  can  be  made  happy  by  building  up  a  brand  new 
order  of  society  out  of  bricks  baked  of  the  clay  of 
Utopia.  We  need  only  to  see  that  the  crowd  has  its 
regular  supply  of  bread  and  butter,  and  it  will  be  satisfied 
and  smiling.  The  needs  of  the  crowd  are  not  so  easily 
satisfied.  You  cannot  abolish  sickness,  death,  sin,  by 
Act  of  Parliament.  Let  Parliament  and  county 
councils  do  everything  in  their  power  to  improve 
social  conditions  and  develop  the  intelligence  of  the 
people ;  but  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the  great  need 
of  the  crowd  is  shepherding.  Who  are  to  be  the 
shepherds?  It  must  be  men  who  look  on  the  crowd 
with  the  eyes  of  Jesus,  who  with  the  ears  of  Jesus  hear 
the  moans  and  the  inarticulate  cries  of  the  crowd  that 
feels  its  urgent  need  of  something,  but  often  does  not 
know  what  the  something  is.  How  much  one  wise  and 
compassionate  shepherd  can  do  for  the  fainting  and 
scattered  sheep !  He  can  guard  the  flock  against 
ravening  wolves  and  against  those  false  shepherds 
whose  only  interest  in  the  sheep  is  their  fleeces.  He 
can  feed  the  sheep  with  the  food  that  will  nourish 
them.  Perhaps  the  greatest  benefit  he  can  bestow  on 
the  sheep  is  to  restrain  them,  and  defend  them  against 
their  own  wild  wanderings  from  the  fold.  It  is  for  the 
churches  to  train  shepherds,  not  only  for  service  in  the 
churches  themselves,  which  are  the  spiritual  sheep- 
folds,  but  to  be  with  the  sheep  in  the  pastures  and  on 
the  hill-sides.     Which,  being  interpreted,  means  that 

149 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

men  in  whom  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Chief  Shepherd  are 
needed  as  labour  leaders,  as  captains  of  industry,  and 
as  members  of  Parliament  and  municipal  councils. 
Only  the  man  who  can  separate  the  man  and  the 
woman  from  the  crowd  can  minister  to  the  crowd's 
deepest  needs  and  convert  the  crowd  from  being  a 
many-headed  monster  into  a  family  of  brothers  and 
sisters  linked  to  each  other  by  the  bonds  of  natural 
affection. 

IV.— THE  PEOPLE'S  "AMEN,  AMEN  I" 

"And  Ezra  blessed  the  Lord,  the  great  God.  And  all  the 
people  answered,  Amen,  amen,  with  lifting  up  their  hands,  and 
they  bowed  their  heads,  and  worshipped  the  Lord,  with  their  faces 
to  the  ground  "  (Neh.  viii.  6). 

The  people's  "Amen,  amen!"  Do  we  realise  how 
important  it  is  that  when  the  preacher  "  blesses  the 
Lord,  the  great  God,"  all  the  people  should  answer 
"  Amen,  amen  "  ?  That  was  a  wonderful  service  which 
Nehemiah  describes.  It  lasted  from  morning  unto  mid- 
day, and  nobody  complained  ofthe  length  of  the  service. 
People  who  occupy  pulpits  might  take  to  heart  the 
verse  in  which  we  are  told  of  the  men  who  "  caused  the 
people  to  understand  the  law,"  and  "  read  in  the  book 
ofthe  law  of  God  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sayings  and 
caused  them  to  understand  the  reading."  The  point  of 
the  text  is,  however,  that  the  people  listened  with  ears 
eagerly  attentive,  and  they  signified  not  only  their 
approval,  but  their  acceptance  of  the  messages,  and 
their  determination  to  practise  what  they  had  heard, 
by  answering  "Amen,  amen !  " 

150 


Appendix  I 

We  want  the  "  Amen,  amen  !  '*  spirit  in  our  churches 
to-day.     How  it  would  help  the  preacher !     The  evan- 
gelical preacher  does  not  stand  above  the  people  as  a 
man   apart   clothed   with   the   exclusive    authority   of 
priestly  ofBce,   talking   down  to  the  people,  who  are 
expected   simply   to   shut   their   eyes   and   open   their 
mouths  and  take  whatever  he  pleases  to  give  them.      i 
The  evangelical   preacher  is  a  brother  beloved,   who    i' 
thinks  with  the  people,  feSTswith  them,  and  endeavours  f^^ 
to   direct   their    thoughts    and    feelings    into    helpful  \  Oi 
channels.     The   people    must   come,   however,   in  the    '^ 
"Amen,   amen!"   spirit,   if  they    are   to   receive    the 
blessing.     Too  often,  in  these  days,  they  come  listlessly, 
reluctantly,  as  to  the  discharge  of  a  duty.     They  are 
critical  and  seem  to  have  little  or  no  appetite  for  the 
food  with  which  they  are  being  fed.     The  preacher  is 
only  a  man  like  themselves,  and  if  there  is  no  answering 
"  Amen,   amen  !  "  from   the   people's   hearts,  his  own 
heart  is  likely  to  be  chilled  and  his  inspiration  damped 
down. 

When  the  good  man  of  the  house  grows  critical 
about  his  food,  when  nothing  that  is  set  before  him 
pleases  him,  when  the  joint  is  served  half  raw  or 
burned  to  a  cinder,  or  the  porridge  at  breakfast  is  half- 
cooked  and  lumpy,  and  the  coffee  is  badly  brewed  and 
lukewarm,  the  wife  who  is  a  wise  woman,  whose 
"price  is  far  above  rubies,"  does  not  argue  with 
him.  She  says,  "  John  is  evidently  run  down.  He  is 
in  bad  condition.  He  has  not  been  taking  sufficient 
exercise.  He  needs  a  tonic  or  a  holiday,"  and  she 
begins  to  contrive,  to  manoeuvre  how  she  can  induce 

151 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

him  to  take  exercise,  or  a  tonic,  or  a  holiday.  It  is 
exactly  so  in  the  churches  when  the  people  have  lost 
the  "  Amen,  amen  ! "  spirit,  and  have  developed  to  the 
sharpest  point  the  faculty  of  criticism.  They  need 
exercise  and  a  tonic.  They  need  "  the  practice  of  the 
presence  of  God,"  the  individual  soul-wrestling.  They 
need  to  recover  their  relish  for  Bible  reading,  their 
fervency  in  prayer,  their  quiet  meditation  upon  the 
deep  things  of  God.  In  these  days  of  increasing  stress 
and  strain,  of  hurry  and  worry ;  these  days  of  hustling 
and  bustling,  of  multiplied  distractions  in  the  way  of 
recreations,  piquant  literature  and  amusements  of  every 
kind,  it  is  only  too  easy  to  lose  the  "  Amen,  amen  ! " 
spirit,  to  get  out  of  touch  with  God,  and  to  become 
spiritually  anaemic  with  the  consequent  flabbiness  of 
fibpe-and  petulant  irritability.  The  problem  of  the  hour 
in  the  religious  world  is  to  discover  how  to  revive  the 
"  Amen,  amen  !  "  spirit.  We  have  splendid  churches, 
reverent  and  stately  services,  magnificent  choirs,  organs 
with  the  latest  thing  in  modern  improvements,  learned 
and  eloquent  preachers  ;  but  there  is  something  lacking 
in  the  congregation,  that  prevents  the  congregation 
receiving  the  inspiration  that  should  come  to  them  from 
the  hours  of  Sabbath  worship.  Let  me  suggest  that  it 
is  only  in  the  private  cultivation  of  the  devout  life  that 
they  will  recover  the  "  Amen,  amen  !  "  spirit.  Thomas 
Brooks,  the  Puritan  preacher,  in  a  memoir  of  his  wife 
tells  how  she  was  many  a  whole  day  "  pouring  out  her 
soul  before  God  for  the  nation,  for  Zion  and  the  great 
concerns  of  her  own  soul."  Of  another  lady  he  says, 
"  She  wac  much  in  secret  duties,  in  close  communion 

152 


Appendix  I 

with  God,  and  this  did  very  much  enrich  her,  and 
advance  her  in  spiritual  experience,  when  she  had  once 
found  the  secret  of  enjoying  Christ  behind  the  door. 
She  was  a  Christian  all  over.  She  was  a  Christian  in 
profession  and  a  Christian  in  practice ;  a  Christian  in 
lip  and  a  Christian  in  life ;  a  Christian  in  word  and  a 
Christian  in  work ;  a  Christian  in  show  and  a  Christian 
in  power  and  spirit.  She  drove  a  thriving  private  busi- 
ness with  her  Saviour."  We  shall  not  get  that  revival 
of  religion  in  the  churches  and  in  the  nation  till  we  get 
*'the  practice  of  the  presence  of  God,"  and  the  driving 
of  a  thriving  "  private  business  with  the  Saviour  "  in  the 
homes.  It  is  then  that  the  people  in  the  church  will 
answer  "  Amen,  amen  !  "  and  the  inspiration  that  goes 
out  from  them  as  a  cloud  to  the  pulpit  will  return  to 
them  in  showers  of  blessing. 

v.— THE  FIRE  IN  THE  BONES 

"  Then  I  said,  I  will  not  make  mention  of  Him,  nor  speak  any 
more  in  His  name.  But  His  word  was  in  mine  heart,  as  a  burning 
fire  shut  up  in  my  bones,  and  I  was  weary  with  forbearing,  and  I 
could  not  stay"  (Jer.  xx.  9). 

Jeremiah  is  the  most  autobiographical  of  the  pro- 
phets. His  prophecies  are  wrung  from  him  by  the 
pressure  of  painful  personal  experiences.  Judah  in  his 
time  was  like  men  in  a  boat  approaching  the  rapids. 
Jeremiah  was  with  them  in  the  boat,  and  in  an  agony 
of  apprehension  pointed  out  the  danger,  but  the  men 
were  drunken  revellers  and  let  the  boat  drift,  brutally 
ill-using  the  troublesome  interrupter  in  order  to  silence 
him. 

153 


The  Aft  of  Sermon    Ilustration 

Sometimes  Jeremiah  lost  heart  as  he  saw  Judah  with 
heart  hardened  and  ears  deaf  to  the  messages  that 
came  to  her  from  Jehovah.  He  longed  for  a  lonely  hut 
in  the  waste  wilderness  where  he  might  be  out  of  sight 
and  out  of  hearing  of  what  was  going  on  in  Jerusalem, 
where  king,  priests  and  nobles  were  setting  the  worst 
example  to  the  common  people,  and  lent  greedy  ears 
to  the  false  prophets  who  prophesied  pleasant  things, 
and  cried,  "  Peace,  peace,"  when  there  was  no  peace. 
Jeremiah  was  not  gifted  with  great  patience,  or  with  the 
sweetest  of  tempers.  He  was  not  a  mealy-mouthed 
prophet.  If  you  are  trying  to  save  a  madman  from 
murder  or  suicide  you  resort  to  rough  methods.  In  the 
chapter  from  which  the  text  is  taken  Jeremiah  is  put 
into  the  stocks  as  a  warning  that  he  must  either  keep 
his  mouth  shut,  or  must  not  speak  so  as  to  offend  the 
susceptibilities  of  people  whose  policy  was  the  policy  of 
the  ostrich.  They  preferred  to  bury  their  heads  in  the 
sand  rather  than  look  at  the  dangers  that  were  menacing 
them.  Jeremiah  in  the  stocks  rages  and  roars  like  a 
forest  lion  captured  and  caged.  He  has  preached,  and 
preached,  and  preached,  but  preached  in  vain,  and 
recalls  how  he  had  been  tempted  to  preach  no  more. 
"  But  His  word  was  in  mine  heart  as  a  burning  fire  shut 
up  in  my  bones,  and  I  was  weary  with  forbearing  and  I 
could  not  stay." 

Of  course  he  could  not  stay.  What  prophet  of 
God  could  ever  be  silent  ?  No  great  reform  has  ever 
been  carried  out  without  the  experience  of  Jeremiah 
being  repeated.  Jeers  and  sneers,  insult  and  contempt, 
are  the   lot   of  the   reformer   and  the  philanthropist. 

15-^ 


Appendix  I 

Columbus,  who  gave  a  new  world  to  Spain,  was  put  in 
chains,  the  reformers  of  religion  were  burned  at  the 
stake,  the  Puritans  were  clapped  into  dungeons,  the 
abolitionists  of  the  slave  trade  in  England  were 
denounced  as  lunatics  and  robbers  for  half  a  century. 
John  Brown  was  hanged  when  he  staked  his  life  on  the 
venture  of  rousing  the  Northern  States  to  a  sense  of 
the  iniquity  of  slavery.  The  temperance  pioneers  in 
England  were  the  butt  of  every  drunken  wit,  and  were 
cruelly  caricatured  even  by  such  a  kind-hearted  novelist 
as  Dickens.  It  was  not  pleasant  to  be  labelled  as  a 
hypocritical  Stiggins.  General  Booth,  when  he  set  out 
to  capture  for  Christ  the  classes  who  had  ceased  to  be 
touched  by  the  ministrations  of  any  church,  was  the 
laughing-stock  of  the  country,  and  the  bands  of 
Salvationists  were  legitimate  game  for  the  violent 
horseplay  of  the  rowdy  hooligan. 

Would  it  have  been  strange  if  any  of  these  reformers, 
in  a  fit  of  depression  and  pessimism  at  the  apparent 
hopelessness  of  their  crusade,  stung  by  the  opposition, 
the  contempt  and  persecution  by  the  very  people  in 
whose  interest  they  were  working,  had  said,  '*  We  have 
done  our  best.  We  have  delivered  our  message  again 
and  again.  Why  should  we  go  on  working  for  the 
ungrateful  and  the  wilfully  blind  "  Our  conscience  is 
clear.  Now  we  will  wash  our  hands  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness, and  seek  our  rest  in  some  lodge  in  the  wilderness." 
If  such  men  yielded  there  would  be  no  hope  for  the 
world,  but  they  cannot  yield.  *'  His  word  was  in  their 
heart  as  a  burning  fire  shut  up  in  their  bones,  and  they 
could  not  stay." 

155 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Jeremiah  died  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  still  faith- 
fully delivering  his  messages  to  the  exiles,  who,  even  in 
their  banishment,  w^ould  not  listen  to  them,  and  he  w^as 
buried  in  a  nameless  grave.  But  his  w^ork  was  not 
wasted.  He  saved  Israel,  and  Israel,  in  after  years, 
recognised  how  great  a  prophet  in  Jeremiah  God  had 
given  to  her.  When  Jesus  came  and  His  wonderful  works 
and  words  set  people  talking,  some  said  it  was  Jeremiah 
come  again.  So  it  will  always  be  with  those  to  whom 
the  word  of  God  is  a  flaming  fire.  They  in  Christ's  stead 
are  the  world's  saviours,  and  some  day  the  world  will 
give  them  their  honour.  Let  no  faithful  worker  for  God 
give  way  to  discouragement ;  let  him  work  on,  and  he 
will  have  his  sure  reward. 

VI.— HEAVENLY  THRIFT 

**  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasure  upon  earth  ....  But  lay 
up  for  yourselves  treasure  in  Heaven  "  (Matt.  vi.  19,  20). 

The  cynical  man  of  the  world  curls  his  lips  into  a 
scornful  smile  when  he  hears  the  counsel,  "  Lay  not  up 
for  yourselves  treasure  on  earth."  Did  he  not,  in  his 
boyhood,  read  the  books  of  Samuel  Smiles,  and  gather 
from  them  that  the  chief  duty  of  men  in  England  was 
to  succeed  in  life,  which  means  laying  up  treasure  on 
earth  ?  Is  not  our  whole  social  system  based  on  the 
notion  that  the  laying  up  of  earthly  treasures,  the  safe- 
guarding of  them,  and  their  exchange  and  transmission, 
is  the  one  object  to  be  kept  always  in  view  ?  The  man 
who  "  succeeds  in  life  "  is  the  man  whom  everybody 
honours,  and  his  success  makes  everybody  charitable 

156 


Appendix  I 

towards  any  little  peccadilloes  he  may  have,  or  to  any- 
thing that  looks  dubious  in  the  means  by  which  his 
success  was  attained.  Christ's  measurement  of  success, 
however,  is  not  the  world's  measurement.  Success  with 
Him  means  the  man's  success  in  the  making  of  himself, 
and  not  his  success  in  the  making  of  money.  In  making 
the  money  he  may  lose  himself  and  then,  judged  by 
Christ's  standard,  though  he  lives  in  a  mansion,  and 
drives  in  a  motor  car,  the  man  is  a  bankrupt.  When  a 
successful  man  dies,  the  world  asks,  "  What  has  he  left  ?  '* 
The  angels  ask,  "  What  has  he  sent  on  ?  '*  His  will  on 
earth  may  mean  half-a-million  in  death  duties  to  the 
Exchequer ;  his  will  in  Heaven  may  be  a  blank  sheet. 

But  "  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasure  in  Heaven."  Six 
hundred  thousand  old  people  are  now  enjoying  their 
pensions  provided  by  the  Government  from  the 
fund  laid  up  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 
Even  those  who  opposed  the  Old  Age  Pensions  Bill 
will  wish  the  old  people  a  happy  enjoyment  of  their 
good  fortune.  But  what,  after  all,  is  five  shillings  a 
week,  or  five  pounds,  or  fifty  pounds,  a  week,  for  the 
matter  of  that,  as  provision  for  old  age  ?  It  will  provide 
porridge  and  a  buttered  crust,  it  will  keep  a  roof  tree 
over  the  home,  it  will  remove  the  dark  cloud  of  poverty 
that  embittered  men  and  women  who  in  their  declining 
years,  after  lives  of  ceaseless  toil,  saw  no  prospect 
ahead  but  the  open  doors  of  the  workhouse.  But 
**  man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone."  He  needs  provision 
for  the  mind,  provision  for  the  heart,  provision  for  the 
fcoul,  if  he  is  to  enjoy  a  cheerful  old  age.  Is  there  any- 
thing more  tragic  on  earth  than  the  old  age  of  a  starved 

157 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

heart  and  a  starved  soul  ?  Many  successful  men  have 
let  the  rust  of  gold  eat  into  their  hearts,  and  when  such 
men  retire  from  business  to  leisure  they  are  of  all  men 
the  most  miserable.  In  our  family  relationships  we 
should  be  laying  up  treasure  in  Heaven.  All  human 
love  that  opens  and  warms  the  heart  is  treasure 
being  laid  up  in  Heaven.  Is  there  any  more  miserable 
spectacle  than  the  old  age  of  the  selfish  man  or 
woman,  whose  thought  has  only  been  for  themselves 
and  who  have  alienated  the  respect  and  affection  of 
even  their  own  children  ?  But  what  more  beautiful 
sight  on  earth  is  there  than  that  of  Darby  and  Joan 
who,  at  their  golden  wedding,  gather  around  them  their 
children  and  grand-children,  and  reap  a  golden  harvest 
of  love  from  the  seed  of  love  that  they  sowed  in  their 
children's  hearts  ?  After  all  the  best  old  age  pension 
for  Darby  is  just  Joan  and  the  children  whom  God 
gave  them. 

If  we  are  laying  up  treasure  in  Heaven  we  do  not  have 
to  wait  till  we  reach  Heaven  before  we  enter  upon  its 
enjoyment.  The  beauty  of  a  heavenly  old  age  pension 
is  that  we  begin  to  receive  it,  and  to  receive  it  on  a 
scale  of  heavenly  generosity,  the  very  moment  that  we 
begin  laying  it  up. 

"The  Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you.'*  As  the  world 
counts  success  we  may  have  failed,  but  as  Heaven  counts 
success  we  have  gloriously  succeeded.  Do  not  we  know 
at  a  glance  the  people  who  have  treasure  laid  up  in 
Heaven  ?  Their  lives  are  radiant.  They  are  **  fat  and 
flourishing "  of  soul,  though  their  tables  are  scantily 
provided.     The  best  things  of  life  are  not  so  unevenly 

158 


Appendix  I 

divided  as  most  people  suppose.  Many  a  man  and 
woman  in  the  poorest  cottage  possess  a  heavenly 
cheque-book,  and  their  drafts  are  always  honoured  at 
the  bank.  That  bank  never  breaks.  "  Neither  moth 
nor.  rust  doth  corrupt  and  thieves  do  not  break  through 
and  steal.* 

VII.— THE   SAVIOURS   OF  THE   CITY 

**  There  was  a  little  city,  and  few  men  within  it ;  and  there  came 
a  great  king  against  it  and  besieged  it,  and  built  great  bulwarks 
against  it :  Now  there  was  found  in  it  a  poor  wise  man,  and  he  by 
his  wisdom  delivered  the  city  ;  yet  no  man  remembered  the  same 
poor  man  *'  (Eccles.  ix.  14,  15). 

Curiosity  is  aroused  by  this  strange  little  story 
embedded  in  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes.  We  should  like 
to  know  what  quarrel  the  great  king  had  with  the  city, 
what  was  the  name  and  the  trade  of  the  poor  wise  man, 
what  was  the  scheme  by  which  he  delivered  the  city  in 
its  desperate  straits.  Imagination  pictures  the  scene 
when  the  poor  wise  man  appeared  upon  it.  Everything 
has  been  tried  and  failed  to  beat  off  the  besieging  army, 
and  a  council  of  war  is  called.  Assembled  are  all  the 
colonels,  and  the  captains,  and  the  city  fathers.  There 
are  very  clever  men  there,  with  very  clever  schemes, 
but  everyone  who  has  served  on  a  committee  knows 
that  clever  as  are  the  men  who  devise  schemes,  there 
are  still  cleverer  critics  to  tear  them  to  tatters.  The 
councillors  are  at  their  wits*  end,  when  there  is  a  knock 
at  the  door,  the  sentinel  on  guard  enters,  and  says, 
**  There  is  a  man  outside  shabbily  dressed.  He  doesn't 
look  anybody  of  importance,  but  he  says  he's  got  a 

159 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

scheme  to  save  the  city."  After  some  debate  if  it  were 
worth  while  listening  to  a  poor  man,  they  let  him  enter, 
he  propounds  his  scheme,  and  it  is  so  self-evidently 
practical  that  they  cannot  but  accept  it. 

Now,  I  don't  know  what  the  scheme  was,  but  I  am 
pretty  certain  that  it  was  exceedingly  simple,  and 
because  it  was  so  simple  none  of  those  clever  men  had 
thought  of  it.  Ellen  Thorneycroft  Fowler  introduces 
a  character  in  one  of  her  books,  *'  who  w^as  so 
exceedingly  clever  that  she  never  could  perceive  thv 
obvious."  The  world  is  full  of  such  clever  people, — 
the  inventors  who  are  always  out  at  elbows ;  the  men 
who  write  books  on  how  to  make  money,  and  always 
want  to  borrow  half-a-crown ;  the  politicians  who 
would  revolutionise  the  State  on  Utopian  principles 
but  are  ghastly  failures  when  elected  to  the  parish 
council ;  the  people  in  the  churches  who  dream  of  great 
revivals  but  will  not  take  a  Sunday-school  class.  The 
poor  wise  man  has  more  wisdom  in  his  little  finfj:er 
than  an  army  of  these  clever  people  have  in  all  their 
heads.  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  tells  a  story  at  his 
own  expense.  There  was  a  burglary  in  his  village,  and 
the  people  thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  induce  the 
creator  of  "  Sherlock  Holmes  "  to  discover  the  burglar. 
Sir  Arthur  sat  down  to  work  out  a  theory,  but  while  he 
was  working  it  out,  the  stout  red-faced  village  constable 
laid  his  hand  on  the  man.  The  constable  was  just  "a 
poor  wise  man "  who  used  his  native  wit,  and  native 
wit  is  often  a  surer  guide  than  the  wisdom  of  the 
philosophers.  The  poor  wise  man,  with  whom  should 
be  included  the  poor  wise  woman,  is  always  saving  the 

i6o 


Appendix  I 

city,  and  unless  he  takes  his  part  in  saving  it,  all  that 
Parliament  and  county  and  borough  councils  can  do 
will  be  in  vain.  There  is  a  growing  tendency  to  expect 
the  "great  and  eminent  men  "  to  save  the  city  off  their 
own  bat,  so  to  speak.  You  might  as  well  expect  the 
officers  of  an  army  to  win  battles  without  the  rank  and 
file. 

Let  us  take  a  look  at  three  or  four  of  the  questions 
concerning  the  saving  of  the  city  that  are  now  being 
hotly  debated.  There  is  the  temperance  question. 
Governments  devise  Licensing  Bills  and  the  House  of 
Lords  rejects  them.  What  does  the  poor  wise  man 
say  ?  "I  will  pass  a  Licensing  Bill  of  my  own  without 
a  time  limit  and  without  compensation,  and  no  House 
of  Lords  on  earth  can  veto  it."  There  is  the  education 
question.  Churches  are  quarrelling  as  to  who  shall 
bring  up  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  religion  of  their 
parents.  What  does  the  poor  wise  man  say  ?  "I  will 
educate  my  children  in  my  own  religion  by  my  example 
and  their  mother's."  Unless  the  children  are  so 
"  educated  in  the  religion  of  their  parents  "  I  have  not 
much  hope  of  either  day-school  teacher  or  Sunday- 
school  teacher  succeeding  in  the  business.  The  child 
should  be  daily  and  hourly  i  .liuenced  by  the  example 
of  the  parents.  If  they  are  a  Christian  man  and 
woman  they  should  exhale  an  atmosphere  of  cheerful 
piety  that  will  be  in  the  home  as  the  fragrance  of  roses, 
and  children  breathing  that  atmosphere  cannot  but  be 
educated  in  the  religion  of  their  parents. 

Then  with  regard  to  the  "  arrested  progress  of  the 
Church,"  and  how  the  arrest  can  be  arrested  and  the 

i6i  L 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Churches  started  on  the  march  again.  What  does 
the  poor  wise  man  say  ?  He  says,  "  I  will  cultivate  my 
own  soul  with  intensive  cultivation.  I  will  do  my 
utmost  so  that  any  chill  in  the  spiritual  temperature  of 
the  Church,  any  slackening  of  its  moral  fibre,  any  half- 
heartedness  in  its  Christian  activities,  shall  at  any  rate 
not  be  traceable  to  shortcomings  on  my  part.'*  Not 
long  ago  I  heard  a  minister  tell  of  a  revival  at  a  church 
in  a  highly  respectable  suburb,  at  which  he  was  asked 
to  conduct  a  mission.  On  arriving  his  host,  a  deacon 
J. P.,  threw  all  the  cold  water  he  could  on  his  expecta- 
tions. On  the  Sunday  morning,  however,  as  soon  as 
he  entered  the  pulpit,  he  was  conscious  of  something 
electric  in  the  air.  It  became  evident  that  there  was 
the  power  and  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Before 
the  service  closed,  five  people  expressed  their  desire  to 
commit  their  lives  to  the  Master  and  devote  their  lives 
to  His  service,  and  among  the  five  were  two  young 
men,  sons  of  the  pessimist  J. P.  What  was  the  secret  ? 
It  was  found  that  five  old  men,  among  the  poorest  of 
the  congregation,  had  agreed  weeks  before  to  meet 
together  daily  for  supplication  that  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  might  be  poured  out  at  that  mission.  They  were 
"  the  poor  wise  men,"  and  such  men  and  such  women 
in  every  church  would  soon  create  a  revival  in  a  natural 
spontaneous  way. 

The  poor  wise  men  and  women  who  live  lives  of 
simple  goodness  are  the  salt  that  saves  the  community 
from  moral  putrefaction.  Ten  just  men  would  have 
saved  Sodom,  but  Sodom  lacked  the  ten  men,  and  it 
perished  in  a  rain  of  fire.     Let  no  man  or  woman  think 

162 


Appendix  I 

that  they  are  so  unimportant  that  they  do  not  count. 
They  may  be  the  saviours  of  the  city. 

VIII.-— NO   MORE   SEA 

"And  there  was  no  more  sea  "  (Rev.  xxi.  i). 

To  a  people  whose  glory  is  in  their  supremacy  on  the 
seas,  who  sing  "  Rule  Britannia,  Britannia  rules  the 
waves,"  who  draw  their  wealth  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  in  ships  that  fly  their  flag,  a  heaven  in  which 
there  is  no  more  sea  seems  a  heaven  incomplete.  To 
the  Jews,  however,  as  to  most  Orientals  of  the  ancient 
world,  the  sea  was  a  treacherous  monster,  never  to  be 
trusted,  smiling  with  waves  lightly  rippled  in  the  sun- 
shine when  you  embarked  for  a  voyage,  and  when  you 
were  scarcely  out  of  sight  of  the  shore  rising  in  tempest 
and  tossing  the  cockleshell  of  a  ship  ruthlessly  on  to  a 
rock,  or  on  to  some  hostile  shore,  where,  if  you  escaped 
the  waves,  you  were  barbarously  received  by  wreckers, 
who  if  they  did  not  murder -you  enslaved  you.  The 
sea  became  the  symbol  of  all  that  was  most  faithless 
and  merciless.  "  The  wicked,"  said  Isaiah,  "  are  like 
the  troubled  sea  that  casts  up  mire  and  dirt."  Those 
who  were  on  the  sea  thought  longingly  of  a  safe 
haven. 

The  sea  even  to-day  has  not  lost  its  terrors.  The 
ocean  liner  is  the  last  thing  in  luxury  to  the  passengei 
with,  money,  but  there  is  never  a  day  of  storm  but  wha 
the  sea  reaps  its  dread  harvest  of  lives.  Norman 
Duncan,  in  one  of  his  Newfoundland  and  Labrador 
.stories,  tells  how  two  lads  went  out  in  a  fishing  boat 

163  L  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

and  were  caught  in  a  fog  and  drawn  into  a  resistless 
current,  which  they  knew  would  dash  their  boat  to 
pieces  on  a  rock  or  ice.  "  The  sea  've  cotched  us,  the 
sea  've  cotched  us,"  they  cried,  as  they  drifted  swiftly 
to  their  doom.     Rudyard  Kipling  wrote : — 

"  If  blood  be  the  price  of  admiralty, 
O  God,  we  have  paid  the  price." 

In  the  Tate  Gallery  one  of  the  pictures  that  attracts 
the  most  attention  is  "  Hopeless  Dawn."  There  is  a 
spread  breakfast  table,  and  the  candle  burned  low  in  the 
socket  tells  of  a  sleepless  night.  Morning  has  come 
after  a  night  of  storm,  and  a  fishing  boat  is  missing. 
An  old  wrinkled  grannie  sits  in  a  chair,  and  kneeling 
on  the  flioor  with  her  head  on  the  grannie's  lap  is 
the  fisherman's  wife,  a  pathetic  picture  of  despair. 
Even  to-day  the  ocean  proves  himself  a  *'  mighty 
monster." 

**  And  there  was  no  more  sea."  What  does  it  mean? 
It  means  that  in  the  Jerusalem  above  "  God  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall  be  no 
more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall 
there  be  any  more  pain,  for  the  former  things  are 
passed  away."  While  we  are  in  the  flesh,  however, 
there  is  always  the  sea,  and  always  the  danger  of  moral 
and  spiritual  shipwreck.  We  are  all  on  the  sea.  In 
olden  times  there  was  no  mariner's  compass,  and  the 
vessels  had  to  hug  the  land  as  far  as  possible,  but  the 
danger  of  hugging  the  land  might  be  even  greater  than 
that  of  sailing  out  into  the  ocean.  To-day,  with  steel- 
built  vessels  and  scientific  construction,  the  results  of 

164 


Appendix  I 

centuries  of  evolution,  with  the  seas  thoroughly  charted, 
with  steam  power  and  perfect  machinery,  with  the 
mariner's  compass  and  other  instruments  to  guide  him, 
the  navigator  has  reduced  the  perils  of  the  sea  to  a 
minimum,  but  there  are  perils  all  the  same.  He  may 
go  to  sea  in  a  coffin  ship  with  machinery  that  long  ago 
ought  to  have  been  scrapped.  The  navigator  may  be 
incompetent  or  careless.  The  magnetic  needle  may  be 
deflected  either  by  the  metal  of  the  ship  or  by  the 
magnetic  powers  of  rocks,  when  the  ship  is  near  the 
land.  One  of  the  most  terrible  wrecks  of  recent  years 
is  believed  to  have  been  caused  by  the  magnetic; 
influence  of  the  rocks  into  the  neighbourhood  of  which  I 
the  ship  had  been  steered  during  a  fog.  Then  there' 
are  shifting  currents  that  may  carry  a  ship  in  foggy 
weather  out  of  her  course. 

Are  there  not  analogous  perils  in  the  voyage  of  life 
on  which  we  are  all  engaged  ?  We  have  a  chart,  indeed, 
in  the  Word  of  God,  but  we  often  roll  up  the  chart  and 
fling  it  on  to  a  top  shelf  where  it  remains  dusty  and 
forgotten.  We  have  a  compass,  in  the  light  of  con- 
science, but  the  hand  of  the  compass  is  easily  deflected 
by  the  magnetism  of  powerful  temptations.  We  get 
into  dangerous  currents  and  drift  on  to  rocks  or  into 
shoals,  and  when  we  strike  we  w^onder;  but  it  would 
have  been  more  wonderful  if  we  had  not  struck.  How 
can  we  make  sure  of  reaching  *'  the  desired  haven  "  ? 
There  is  a  Pilot  who  is  waiting  and  willing  and  eager  to 
come  on  board,  if  we  will  let  Him.  I  read  of  a  Scotch 
pilot  who  had  so  often  carried  ships  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence that  he  was  never  at  a  loss,  even  in  the  thickest 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

fog,  and  said  he  could  take  a  boat,  he  believed,  even  if 
he  v^^ere  blindfolded. 

•'With  Christ  in  the  vessel 
We  laugh  at  the  storm." 

He  may  be  an  invisible  Pilot,  but  He  v^ill  carry  us 
safely  through  all  the  perils  of  the  sea,  and  when  we 
reach  the  desired  haven  we  shall  "  see  our  Pilot  face  to 
face."         • 


X66 


APPENDIX  II 

ILLUSTRATED   ADDRESSES   TO 
CHILDREN 

For  the  Illustrated  Addresses  to  Children  that  follow 
I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  the  authors  whose 
names  appear,  with  the  exception  of  the  last.     Rev.  E. 
W.  Lewis,  M.A.,  B.D.,  has  published  a  volume  of  his 
children's  addresses,   "The   Invisible  Companion,  and 
other  Stories  for  Children,"  through  James  Clarke  &  Co., 
price  IS.  6d.  net,  and  the  two  addresses  by  Rev.  J.  G. 
Stevenson  are  taken,  somewhat  condensed,   from    his 
volume  **  The  Challenge,"  published  by  James  Clarke 
&   Co.,   price  2s.  6d.  net.     The  address  by  Rev.  W. 
Kingscote  Greenland  is  condensed,  with  his  permission, 
from   a   published   report.       Mr.     Greenland   is   most 
popular  throughout  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Connexion 
as  the  author  of  the  weekly  Methodist  Recorder  children's 
article,  "  From  Eight  to  Sixteen."     That  weekty  article, 
and  the  volumes  of  Messrs.  Lewis  and  Stevenson,  are 
models   of  the  methods   of  talking  and   writing   that 
fascinate  children.     My   friend    Mr.  Basil    Mathews  is 
a  student  of  child  psychology  who  well  understands 
the  art  of  finding  ways  into  the  child's  mind. 

167 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

I.— CARRYING    A  CROSS 
By  Rev.  E.  W.  Lewis,  M.A.,  B.D. 

The  other  morning  I  came  into  my  study  a  little  bit 
earlier  than  usual,  and  I  saw  a  very  young  sparrow 
sitting  on  the  window-sill,  and  looking  exceedingly 
down  in  the  dumps.  The  window  was  open,  and  as  I 
walked  towards  it  I  said  in  a  low,  friendly  sort  of  voice 
so  as  not  to  disturb  him,  **  Hullo,  my  boy,  and  what  is 
the  matter,  pray  ?  '* 

He  evidently  wanted  someone  to  talk  to,  for  he  did 
not  fly  away  as  I  came  still  nearer,  but  sniffled  in  his 
nose  a  bit  as  if  he  had  been  crying.  So  I  sat  down  on 
the  ledge  of  the  window,  and  without  looking  at  him — 
for  sparrows  do  not  like  to  be  looked  at  when  they  have 
been  crying — I  said  in  the  most  comfortable,  confiding 
voice  I  could,  "  Well,  tell  me  about  it." 

Then  he  began  to  make  a  funny  sort  of  noise  ;  some- 
times it  was  like  a  muffled  twitter,  and  sometimes  it 
was  like  a  lot  of  jerky  little  snorts,  which  you  probably 
would  not  have  understood,  but  it  was  quite  plain  to 
me,  for  I  have  studied  the  language  of  sparrows  almost 
as  much  as  I  have  studied  Hindustani.  And  what  he 
said  was  this : 

"  I  think  it  is  really  too  bad  ;  yesterday  evening  fathei 
and  mother  went  off  somewhere,  and  left  me,  and  they 
haven't  come  back  this  morning,  and  I  have  searched  all 
about  for  them,  and  I  cannot  find  them.  I  am  alone  in 
the  world"  ;  and  he  stopped  a  little  because  of  a  lump 
in  his  throat,  which  you  boys  and  girls  know  all  about. 

"  Dear,  dear  !  "  I  said,  just  to  give  him  time. 

1 68 


Appendix  II 


u 


I  have  nobody,  now,"  he  went  on,  "  to  bring  me 
food,  or  to  show  me  where  to  find  it,  and  every  bird  I 
meet  seems  to  want  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  me,  and 
fight,  and  I  can't  fight,  and  there  is  nobody  to  stand  up 
for  me.  And  the  nights  are  getting  so  long,  and  are 
beginning  to  get  cold,  and  I  do  not  know  what  I  shall 
do.     I  wish  I  could  die." 

He  was  clearly  in  a  very  bad  way. 

"  Come,  come,"  I  said  to  him  in  my  best  coaxing 
manner,  "  you  are  young  and  strong ;  you  have  a  sharp 
beak  and  two  quick  eyes,  and  a  fine  crop  of  feathers ; 
and  you  have  had  a  wonderful  stroke  of  luck  in  finding 
out  this  garden,  which  is  a  perfect  storehouse  of  treasures 
for  you.  Things  are  not  nearly  so  bad  as  you  make  out. 
Blow  your  father  and  mother,  and  keep  your  tail  up." 

He  still  looked  very  limp  and  woe-begone,  however, 
and  snorted  out : 

"  I  don't  think  anybody  has  so  rough  a  time  of  it  as 
I  have." 

"  Oh,  nonsense  !  "  I  said,  rather  sternly.  "  Look  at 
that  spider  down  there  on  the  top  of  the  laurel  bush ; 
somebody  smashed  his  web  to  bits  this  morning,  and 
he  has  got  to  weave  another,  and  he  has  only  got  a 
certain  amount  of  stuff  to  do  it  with,  and  if  this  web 
gets  broken,  he  will  have  to  starve  to  death." 

"  Oh,"  says  the  sparrow,  "  that  is  very  hard." 

"  I  should  think  it  is  hard,"  I  replied;  "  and  see  that 
old  bluebottle  crouching  behind  that  ivy  stalk ;  all  his 
friends  have  left  him.  He  is  too  old  and  fat  to  help 
himself;  he  is  so  blind  he  can  scarcely  see;  he  is 
frightened  to  death  for  fear  you  will  catch  sight  of  him  ; 

169 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

and  if  he  gets  inside  this  room  of  mine  I  shall  chase 
him  round  with  a  duster  ;  and  the  winter  is  coming  and 
he  has  not  got  a  nest,  nor  even  feathers." 

"  Poor  soul !  "  murmured  the  sparrow.  "  It  must  be 
very  hard  to  be  old,  and  hated,  and  forsaken." 

"  And  look  at  that  butterfly,"  I  continued,  warming 
up  like  I  do  when  I  am  half-way  through  a  sermon. 
"  Look  at  him ;  he  looks  gay  and  happy,  doesn't  he  ? 
And  yet  if  there  is  a  frost  to-night,  it  will  pinch  his 
little  heart,  and  he  will  drop  down  among  the  soil  and 
the  dead  leaves." 

"  Poor  thing  !  "  sighed  the  sparrow. 

**  And  look  at  me,"  I  cried. 

**  You  ?  "  chirped  the  sparrow. 

"  Yes,  me  !  Everybody  has  their  troubles,  and  yours 
are  a  fleabite  to  them.  Here  am  I  on  Saturday 
morning,  and  I  have  got  to  talk  to  some  boys  and  girls 
to-morrow,  and  I  haven't  a  single  idea  in  my  head  to  say 
to  them,  and  they'll  never  like  me  any  more  if  I  miss  a 
Sunday.     There's  real  trouble,  if  you  like  !  " 

**  Tell  'em  about  me,"  he  said,  and  his  eyes  twinkled 
and  he  seemed  to  be  getting  quite  perky. 

"  Great  idea!"  I  cried.  *' Here,  wait  a  bit";  and  I 
slipped  downstairs  before  the  breakfast  table  had  been 
cleared,  and  made  him  some  crumbs  which  he  ate  out 
of  the  palm  of  my  hand.     When  he  had  finished,  I  said : 

'*  Do  you  see  that  glass  dish  of  water  down  there  on 
the  grass?  That's  for  the  dog;  but  you  can  go  and 
stand  on  the  rim  and  wash  your  breakfast  down ;  only 
watch  out  for  the  cat." 

And  down  he  flew. 

170 


Appendix  II 

Some  of  you  boys  and  girls  are  a  bit  like  that  sparrow, 
sometimes.  You  are  inclined  to  think  that  you  have  a 
very  bad  time  of  it,  and  are  very  hardly  done  to,  and 
that  nobody  could  have  such  parents  as  yours  for 
sending  you  errands  when  you  want  to  play,  or  keeping 
you  at  lessons  when  you  want  to  be  larking,  and  you 
look  glum,  and  you  grouse,and  grumble,  and  imagine  that 
there  is  nobody  has  so  heavy  a  cross  to  carry  as  you  have. 

Oh !  if  you  could  only  see  the  crosses  that  other 
people  have  to  carry  ! 

If  you  could  only  see  the  burdens  that  lie  all  the  time 
on  the  shoulders  of  your  father  and  mother,  and  on  the 
shoulders,  too,  the  little  shoulders  of  other  children 
sometimes.  You  would  begin  to  see  how  fortunate  and 
blessed  you  are. 

There  was  once  a  girl  whose  cross  was  so  heavy 
that  she  fretted  a  great  deal  over  it.  One  night  she 
dreamed  that  it  was  taken  away,  and  that  she  was  visited 
by  an  angel  who  talked  to  her  about  carrying  crosses. 

"  Everyone,"  said  the  angel,  "carries  a  cross.  But 
you  shall  have  your  choice." 

So  the  girl  was  taken  to  where  the  crosses  of  the 
world  are  kept.  She  saw  them — great  huge  heavy 
crosses  which,  when  she  touched  them,  she  could  not 
move.     In  a  corner  stood  a  beautiful  tiny  cross. 

"  May  I  carry  that  one  ?  " 

"  That  one  ?  "  said  the  angel,  "  certainly.  It  is  the 
very  cross  you  were  fretting  over.  It  is  the  lightest 
cross  we  have  in  the  whole  place." 

And  I  should  not  wonder  if  the  same  is  not  true  of 
some  of  you  (Luke  ix.  14). 

171 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

II.— THE   MAGIC   PEN 
By  Rev.  E.  W.  Lewis,  M.A.,  B.D. 

I  HAVE  a  quill  pen  which  came  out  of  the  left  wing  of 
a  grey  goose.  This  is  a  long  time  ago,  for  I  myself 
have  used  the  pen  until  it  won't  write  any  more.  But 
I  have  not  thrown  it  away,  for — if  I  may  whisper  it  in 
your  little  ear — it  is  a  Magic  Pen.  In  children's  stories 
you  will  always  notice  that  anything  wonderful  is  spelt 
with  a  capital  letter.  I  am  afraid  that  it  is  not  a 
Magic  Pen  when  I  am  writing  with  it,  but  it  is  magic 
whenever  I  put  it  behind  my  ear. 

This  has  been   one  of  my  great  secrets   for   many 

years,  and  one  day  I  will  tell  you  how  I  discovered  it. 

Whenever  I  put  the  Magic  Pen  behind  my  ear,  off  I 

go  quicksticks  into  fairyland  !     And  so  it  happened  on 

New  Year's  Eve  I  was  sitting  in  my  room  late  at  night, 

and  very  tired,  and  I  placed  the  pen,  which  I  had  been 

using  as  a  book-marker,  behind  my  ear.     No  sooner 

had   I    done   so   than   my  study,  with  its   books  and 

mantelpiece,  and  pictures,  and  the  dog  stretched  on  the 

hearthrug,  suddenly  disappeared,  and  I  found  myself 

in  what  turned  out  to  be  the  entrance-hall  of  a  most 

wonderful  castle.     And  the  door  opened  and  in  came  a 

shining  personage,  whom  I  at  once  knew  to  be  the 

Lord  of  the  Manor;    he  carried  in  his  arms  a  huge 

sheaf  of  flowers ;  and  he  came  forward  to  me  smiling. 

"  My  name  is  Time,"  he  said  to  me  in  a  beautiful, 

kind  voice. 

"  This  is   a  fine    old    place,"   I    replied,   scarcely 
knowing  what  to  say  to  him.     "  May  I  ask  its  name  ?  " 

172 


Appendix  II 

"  It  IS  called,"  he  said,  **  the  House  of  Ages  !  This 
hall  in  which  we  are  now  standing  is  in  the  centre  ;  on 
that  side  lie  all  the  Ages  that  have  been,  on  this  side 
lie  all  the  Ages  that  are  to  come." 

'*  What  a  wonderful  place !  "  I  said,  in  a  soft,  awesome 
voice. 

"  Come  and  let  me  show  you  a  little,"  said  Time,  and 
he  put  his  foot  on  the  first  step  of  a  marble  staircase. 
I  followed  him.  When  we  got  to  the  landing,  I  found 
myself  standing  at  the  end  of  a  long  corridor,  stretch- 
ing right  away  in  the  distance  in  a  mist  of  light ;  it 
was  for  all  the  world  like  a  corridor  in  a  big  hotel,  I 
thought ;  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  good  many  rooms 
with  closed  doors.  Just  near  at  hand  was  a  room  or 
which  the  door  was  not  quite  closed,  and  before  this 
one  Time  stopped.  **  Let  us  go  in  here,"  he  said,  and 
he  led  the  way.  I  noticed  on  the  door  a  number,  like 
you  see  on  the  bedrooms  in  an  hotel ;  and  the  number 
was  igo8.     So  I  knew  why  the  door  was  nearly  closed. 

We  went  in,  and  all  around  the  room  there  hung 
pictures  in  long  rows.  Time  was  silent,  and  I  looked 
first  at  one  picture  and  then  at  the  other,  and  another, 
and  another,  and  I  found  that  they  were  all  portraits 
of  myself!  Some  I  rather  liked,  for  in  this  one  my 
face  was  very  happy,  and  in  that  one  a  kind  look  shone 
in  my  eyes. 

*'  You  remember  this  ?  "  said  Time.  *'  This  was  You 
when  you  won  that  golf  match  after  a  great  fight ;  you 
were  nearly  beaten,  but  you  stuck  to  it,  and  just 
managed  to  pull  it  off." 

Then  we  passed  on, 

^7Z 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

"  And  this  was  You  after  you  had  spent  the  afternoon 
romping  with  the  children ;  you  see  how  dusty  your 
knees  are,  and  your  coat-collar  is  turned  up  at  the 
back,  and  your  tie  is  all  out  of  place,  through  playing 
bears." 

"  What  a  jolly  room  this  is  !  "  I  said  to  myself.  But 
I  am  afraid  that  we  soon  came  to  the  end  of  the  nice 
portraits. 

"  You  remember  this  one  ?  "  asked  Time.  Yes,  I  did ; 
it  was  a  very  sour,  angry,  ugly  face;  it  was  one  day 
when  I  had  not  been  able  to  have  my  own  way,  and 
had  got  into  a  nasty  temper — ratty,  as  the  boys  call  it. 

"  Did  I  ever  really  look  like  that  ?  "  I  cried ;  for  it 
was  a  proud,  scornful  face,  and  you  could  almost  see 
the  unkind,  cutting  word  coming  out  through  the  lips. 
I  began  to  be  ashamed.  I  looked  round  to  see  where 
the  door  was.     I  tried  to  hurry  Time  on. 

"  No,  don't  let  us  look  at  that,"  I  said,  as  he  stopped 
in  front  of  another.  "  I  am  sure  the  door  will  shut, 
and  we  shall  be  locked  in,  unless  we  are  quick.  It  is 
very  kind  of  you  to  take  this  trouble,  but  you  will  be 
tired." 

But  he  led  me  round  the  room,  and  before  it  was 
all  over  my  heart  was  very  sad  and  heavy  because  I 
had  looked  upon  the  record  of  so  much  that  was  selfish, 
and  thoughtless,  and  cruel,  and  ugly. 

Then  I  heard  a  clock  somewhere  out  in  the  corridor 
striking  the  hour.  It  was  twelve  o'clock.  I  saw  the 
door  begin  to  shut.  We  were  just  in  time ;  we  slipped 
through,  and,  with  the  last  stroke  of  the  bell,  **  click" 
went  the  lock  which  could  never  be  unbolted. 

174 


Appendix  II 

And  as  this  door  closed  behind  us  for  ever  I  saw 
another  door  right  opposite  to  us  on  the  other  side  of 
the  corridor  standing  ajar,  as  if  it  had  just  opened. 
And  I  read  its  number.     It  was  igog. 

**  Ah  ! "  I  said  with  a  cry  of  joy,  **  that  is  the  New 
Year."  "  Yes,"  repHed  Time,  "  it  is.  Would  you  like 
to  see  it."  And  he  took  me  just  inside.  It  was  a  room 
very  like  the  one  we  had  left.  And  its  walls  were 
covered  over  with  long  rows  of  picture-frames.  But  I 
saw  that  there  was  nothing  in  them  yet.  They  were 
empty  frames  waiting  for  the  pictures ;  and  I  knew 
that  I  was  the  painter,  busy  every  day  with  my  life, 
who  was  to  put  the  pictures  in. 

No  word  was  spoken,  but  every  boy  and  girl  will 
know  what  was  in  my  heart  as  I  looked  along  those 
silent  walls,  and  those  vacant  picture-frames. 
'  Then  I  found  myself  saying  in  a  low  voice,  quickly, 
with  a  burning  at  my  heart,  and  a  hope  shining  like  a 
bright  light  within  me  :  "  They  shall  all  be  happy,  jolly, 
kind,  beautiful,  and  good  this  year !  None  of  your 
ugly  ones ;  none  of  your  bad-tempered  ones ;  none  of 
your  selfish  ones !  I  am  not  good-looking  to  start  with, 
but  I  mean  to  take  jolly  good  care  not  to  make  it 
worse  by  unkind  thoughts,  and  sinful  desires,  and 
unlovely  deeds.  I  will  be  very  careful.  I  will  make 
the  very  best  of  myself  every  time.     I  will " 

And  then  suddenly  I  awoke,  to  find  that  Jock,  the 
Aberdeen  terrier,  had  got  tired  of  waiting  for  me  to 
come  out  of  my  dreams,  had  jumped  up  on  to  my  knee, 
and  in  licking  my  cheek  with  his  ticklish  tongue  had 
knocked  the  Magic  Pen  from  behind  my  ear.     It  was 

^75 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

already  New  Year's  Day.  A  Happy  New  Year  to  yon 
all !  If  you  have  read  this  story  carefully  you  will  know 
how  to  make  it  happy  (Ps.  xc.  9). 

III.— THE   YOUNG   HEART   FOR  JESUS 

By  Rev.  W.  Kingscote  Greenland 
[Summarized,  with  introduction,  by  H,  Jeffs."] 

A  SPEAKER  who  "  can  do  anything  he  likes  "  with 
children  is  Rev.  W.  Kingscote  Greenland.  His 
addresses,  with  their  illustrations,  are  inimitable, 
because  they  are  so  completely  the  expression  of  Mr. 
Greenland's  personality  and  of  his  absolute  self-identifi- 
cation with  the  children  to  whom  he  is  talking.  In  this 
address  he  urged  that  people  should  be  Christians  while 
they  are  young  because  it  is  easy.  He  told  how,  as  a 
young  minister,  he  was  ambitious  to  play  some  musical 
instrument  at  concerts,  and  bought  a  beautiful  violin. 
He  took  lessons,  but  found  he  was  not  getting  on,  and 
when  he  pressed  his  teacher  to  tell  him  if  he  should 
ever  be  able  to  play,  the  teacher,   said  Mr.  Greenland, 

began,  "*Well '   *  Honour  bright,'    I  said.    *  Must 

I  tell  you  ?  '  *  You  must.'  *  Well,  you  never  will.' 
*I  thought  so.'  He  was  quite  right.  I  never  have. 
They  never  ask  me  to  play  at  church  socials.  Now, 
boys  and  girls,  there  were  many  reasons  why  I  was 
unable  to  learn  the  vioHn,  although  I  tried,  and  put  a 
lot  of  time  into  it.  One  reason  was :  I  began  to  learn 
too  late.  My  joints  were  stiff,  my  fingers  were  not — 
What  is  the  word,  boys  and  girls  ? — [*  supple  '] — that 
is  a  good  word.  I  did  not  expect  it.  Another.  Well, 
they  were  not  loose  enough."     Against  his  own  failure, 

176 


Appendix  II 

he  placed  the  case  of  a  girl  of  ten  who  used  to  play  to 
him,  and  who  was  doing  one  splendid  thing — she  was 
learning  while  a  child,  when  her  little  fingers  could  be 
moved  freely,  and  her  mind  was  free  from  a  thousand 
things. 

Another  reason  why  people  should  be  Christians 
while  they  were  young  was  because  they  were  never  so 
generous  as  when  they  were  children.  Jesus  wanted 
them  to  give  Him  something,  and  Mr.  Greenland 
skilfully  extracted  from  the  youthful  audience  that  the 
something  was  themselves.     He  said : 

"  I  was  in  a  house  the  other  day  where  there  was  an 
old-fashioned  little  girl.  There  are  only  about  six  left 
— she  is  one.  I  will  tell  you  how  I  know.  She  was 
telling  me  of  a  birthday  present  she  was  going  to 
give  to  her  father.  It  was  an  old-fashioned  present — a 
pair  of  slippers.  In  the  dear  old  days  they  used  to 
give  us  slippers,  now  they  give  us  typewriters  and 
other  murderous  things.  I  asked  her  a  question.  It 
troubled  her.  I  did  not  know  what  was  the  matter. 
Perhaps  I  had  got  up  that  morning  on  the  wrong  side 
of  the  bed.  Which  is  the  wrong  side  of  the  bed,  by  the 
way  ?  [*  The  left.']  I'll  tell  you — it's  the  linoleum  side  ! 
The  cold  side.  Anyhow,  I  said  to  the  girl :  *  You  are 
going  to  give  a  pair  of  slippers  to  your  father  ?  *  *  Yes.' 
*  Where  will  you  get  the  money  to  buy  them  ?  *  She 
opened  her  eyes  like  saucers,  and  she  said :  *  Why, 
father  will  give  me  the  money.''  And  just  for  half  a  minute 
I  was  silent  as  I  thought  the  dear  man  will  buy  his  own 
birthday  present.  I  was  not  in  the  house  when  she 
gave  him  the  slippers.     But  I  suppose  when  the  father 

177  M 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

came  down  in  the  morning  there  was  the  parcel  between 
his  knife  and  fork.  You  know  the  kind  of  parcel  a  girl 
wraps  up.  You  girls  cannot  pack.  We  boys  are  the 
packers — though  we  are  not  Chicago  packers.  You 
know  the  sort  of  parcel,  three  times  too  much  string, 
and  then  a  lot  of  pins,  and  the  heel  poking  out  of  one 
end  and  the  toe  the  other.  But  no  matter  how  it  was 
packed,  the  father  loved  his  little  girl  for  her  gift, 
although  he  had  had  to  pay  for  it.  She  had  not 
anything  in  the  world  that  he  had  not  given  her. 

"That  is  just  what  I  want  to  say  as  I  finish.  You 
have  not  got  anything  of  your  own  to  give  to  Jesus 
Christ.  You  can  only  give  Him  back  what  belongs  to 
Him.  When  Christ  says,  *  Give  Me  something,'  and 
you  say,  *  I  have  nothing  to  give,'  He  further  says,  *  I 
will  put  you  back  into  your  own  care  and  keeping — into 
your  own  proprietorship,  and  you  may  give  yourself  to 
whom  you  like,  and  if  you  really  love  Me  for  love's  sake, 
you  may  give  yourself  back  to  Me  "  (i  Sam.  ii.  ii ;  and 
Matt.  xix.  13 — 15). 

IV.— CONCERNING  A  TOAD 
By  Rev.  J.  G.  Stevenson 

A  BOY  named  Huggins  caught  a  toad,  took  it  home 
and  fed  it,  and  got  quite  fond  of  it.  This  was  during 
his  school  holidays.  When  he  had  to  return  to  school 
he  cried  because  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  take  his 
pet  with  him.  It  happened  that  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, who  beat  Napoleon  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  was 
going   down  the  road.     He  saw  Huggins  crying  and 

178 


Appendix  II 

asked  what  was  the  matter.  The  boy  told  his  sad  stor3\ 
The  Duke  looked  quite  troubled,  put  his  hand  on 
Huggins'  shoulder  and  said,  "  Never  mind,  my  lad ; 
nobody  shall  hurt  your  toad  while  you  are  away.  The 
day  before  you  go  to  school  you  bring  it  up  to  my  house 
and  we  will  look  after  it  for  you,  until  the  holidays  come 
again.*'  Huggins  went  to  school  happy,  but  more  than 
once  during  the  term  he  received  a  letter  with  a  crest 
on  the  envelope,  and  when  he  opened  it,  it  read, 
**  Field-Marshal  the  Duke  of  Wellington  presents  his 
compliments  to  Master  Huggins,  and  begs  to  inform 
him  that  his  toad  is  quite  well." 

You  cannot  help  smiling  at  Huggins,  but  wasn't  it 
just  splendid  of  the  Duke  to  look  after  the  toad  ?  Yet 
some  girls,  if  they  saw  a  toad,  would  say,  "  Nasty,  ugly 
thing !  "  and  run  away,  and  some  boys  would  call  out 
**  Look  at  that  ugly  beast.  Let's  get  some  stones  and 
shy  at  him."  The  best  children  are  kind  to  every 
animal  they  know.  What  happens  to  the  cat  while  you 
are  away  ?  Children  sometimes,  when  they  return  from 
the  summer  holiday,  count  pussy's  ribs  and  say  to  one 
another,  "  Dear  me  !  she  was  quite  fat  when  we  went 
away !  '*  It  is  not  fair  that  people  should  behave  in 
that  way  even  to  a  cat. 


v.— THE  ROSE  AND  THE  EXPRESS  WORM 
By  Rev.  J.  G.  Stevenson 

The  first  rose  of  summer  was  nodding  saucily  as  if 
to  say,  **  Was  there  ever  so  fine  a  flower  in  the  garden 

179  M   2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

before?  "  She  suddenly  saw  a  little  red  thing  sticking 
out  of  the  earth.  It  twisted  and  twirled  and  got  longer, 
and  when  the  rose  asked  "Whoever  are  you  ?  "  "I," 
came  the  answer,  "  am  the  Express  Worm."  The  Worm 
begged  the  Rose  to  give  him  a  summer  lodging  in  one  of 
her  petals,  and  prom.ised  he  would  defend  her  against 
her  enemies.  She  hesitated,  but  the  Worm  slithered  up 
the  tree,  and  curled  up  in  the  centre  of  the  blossom. 
She  soon  began  to  feel  not  at  all  well,  for  the  Worm 
began  to  eat  one  of  her  leaves,  and  when  she  asked  him 
to  move,  he  just  munched  another  petal.  She  asked 
her  friend  the  Bee  to  help  her.  The  Bee  looked  solemn 
and  said,  "  Let  me  see.  Why,  that's  no  Express  Worm, 
that  is  Sin."  The  Rose  said,  "  Oh  no,  he  told  me  his 
name  himself."  "Stupid!"  retorted  the  Bee,  "Sin 
never  gives  his  real  name.  He  always  pretends  that  he 
is  someone  else.  What  were  you  doing  when  he 
came  ? "  "I  was  feeling  proud,  and  I  didn't  think 
there  was  so  much  of  him.  There  was  only  a  very 
little  of  him  that  peered  from  the  ground  at  first."  "  It 
is  always  like  that,"  was  the  answer.  "  To  be  naughty 
always  gives  sin  a  chance.  And  sin  takes  in  everybody, 
when  it  promises  them  revenge  against  their  enemies. 
And  no  sin  seems  so  big  at  first  as  it  becomes  after- 
wards. But  keep  your  petals  up ;  you  will  know  better 
another  time."  The  Bee  advised  the  Rose  to  pray  for 
pardon  to  Someone  who  is  often  called  the  "  Rose  of 
Sharon."  The  West-wind  blew  and  swept  the  Express 
Worm  right  away. 


i8o 


Appendix  II 

VI.— "AS   IN   A   MIRROR" 
By  Basil  Mathews,  B.A. 

"  We  all,  reflecting  as  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  become 
transformed  into  the  same  image"  (2  Cor.  iii.  18,  R.  V.). 

(i)  Take  a  bar  of  soft  iron.  Put  it  among  iron  filings 
and  it  does  nothing.  Put  the  soft  iron  on  to  a  magnet 
and  that  iron  bar  draws  the  fiHngs.  It  has  become  a 
magnet  by  contact  with  a  magnet. 

(2)  Photographic  plate :  a  perfect  blank.  Take  oft 
the  cap  of  the  camera  and  then  the  plate  has  received  a 
perfect  picture  of  what  was  in  front  of  it.  Inside  your 
head  is  a  brain  more  sensitive  than  a  photographic 
plate,  taking  in  pictures  faster  than  a  cinematograph. 

(3)  Story  of  **  Silas  Marner."  The  weaver  caring 
only  for  gold  becomes  hard  like  the  gold.  Loses  the 
gold  and  finds  golden-haired  child.  So  becomes  kind, 
trustful,  helpful,  considerate. 

(4)  "The  Great  Stone  Face  "  (story  told  by  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne).  In  a  Swiss  valley  was  a  village.  Above 
was  a  mountain,  on  a  rock  of  which  was  carved  a  fine, 
strong,  calm,  loving  face.  The  people  said  that  some 
day  a  man  would  come  to  the  village  with  a  face  like 
the  Great  Stone  Face,  and  would  lead  them  and  make 
them  happy  and  strong.  A  boy,  Ernest,  was  told  this, 
and  always  watched  for  that  man,  looking  up  to  the 
rock  and  then  at  the  face  of  every  stranger  who  came 
to  the  village.  But  he  was  always  disappointed.  At 
last,  one  day,  when  he  was  a  young  man  addressing  a 
meeting,  a  man  jumped  up  and  cried  out,  "  Behold  ! 
Ernest  is  himself  the  likeness  of  the  Great  Stone  Face." 

181 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

He  had  reflected  as  a  mirror  its  glory  and  was  gradually 
changed  to  the  same  image. 

VII.— "YE    MUST    BE    BORN    AGAIN" 
By  Basil  Mathews,  B.A. 

Being  born  is  just  coming  into  life. 

We  all  want  to  see  life. 

Point :  To  be  born  simply  to  let  the  Light  of  the 
World  shine  on  you. 

(i)  You  discover  in  the  garden  a  thing  like  a  brown 
torpedo.  Last  summer  it  was  a  caterpillar.  God  tells 
it  that  it  must  be  born  again.  So  in  the  spring  it  will 
come  up  unto  the  sun  and  let  the  sun  shine  on  it  and 
will  then  be  born  again  to  fly  over  the  tree-tops  rejoicing 
as  a  butterfly. 

(2)  The  bulb  in  the  garden  lets  the  sun  shine  on  it 
and  warm  it,  and  in  the  spring  it  is  born  again  into 
a  beautiful,  brilliant  flower.  Even  the  blossom  on  the 
apple  tree  is  born  again  into  lovely  fruit. 

"  Ye  must  be  born  again,"  therefore,  means  let  your 
whole  life  get  warm,  glowing  and  growing  into  blossom 
and  coming  to  fruit  in  the  sunshine  of  Jesus'  love 
(John  iii.  7). 

VIIL— THE    RIGHT  WAY   AND   THE  WRONG 

WAYS 
"  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  am  the  Way  "  (John  xiv.  6). 

In  a  new  fairy-book  I  found  a  story  of  a  boy  and 
girl,  brother  and  sister,  who  lived  just  outside  the 
frontier  of  a  country  that  was  ruled  by  a  very  beautiful 
and  kind  princess.   They  heard  how  anyone  who  visited 

182 


Appendix  II 

the  princess's  castle  was  received  in  the  most  hospitable 
way  by  the  princess,  and  was  sent  away  laden  with 
gifts.  The  boy  and  giri  thought  how  much  they  would 
like  to  go  to  the  castle  and  see  the  princess.  One  day, 
when  they  had  a  holiday,  they  slipped  over  the  frontier, 
and  walked  on  and  on  until  they  came  to  a  place  where 
many  roads  and  lanes  met.  They  did  not  know  which 
was  the  right  road  to  take ;  but  there  was  a  sign-post 
with  a  board  pointing  in  the  direction  of  each  road  and 
lane.  They  read  the  direction  on  each  board;  but 
what  was  their  surprise  to  find  that  the  direction  on 
each  pointer  was  no  direction  at  all,  but  simply  these 

words — "  THIS     IS     NOT     THE     WAY   TO     THE     CASTLE." 

They  sat  down  in  despair,  not  knowing  what  to  do, 
until  a  kind  old  gentleman  came  along,  and  when  they 
told  him  their  wish  and  their  difficulty,  he  took  each  of 
them  by  the  hand  and  led  them  along  the  right  road 
until  they  came  to  the  castle.  There  they  found  that 
the  princess  w^as  even  more  beautiful  and  gracious  and 
kind  than  they  had  imagined,  and  they  had  a  royal  time 
as  her  guests. 

Every  boy  and  girl  should  have  a  still  more  eager 
desire  to  find  their  way  to  the  Heavenly  City,  and  to 
the  Great  King,  who  reigns  over  the  city,  and  who  is 
kinder  and  more  gracious  than  the  most  kind  and 
gracious  princess  that  ever  lived.  Those  that  set  out 
on  the  journey,  however,  as  Christian  in  "  The 
Pilgrim's  Progress,"  may  easily  get  into  a  wrong  road. 
There  is  only  one  right  road;  but  how  many  wrong 
ones  !  There  is  One,  however,  who  is  willing  to  be  your 
Guide.     Jesus  said,  **I.am  the  Way."     If  in  trustful 

183 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

confidence  you  will  put  your  hands  in  His,  He  will 
lead  you,  and  you  will  never  miss  your  way  until  you 
enter  the  gates  of  the  Heavenly  City. 

There  are  dangers  and  difficulties  many  on  the  way, 
and  we  need  a  guide.  In  my  house  there  is  a 
photograph  that  was  taken  last  July  at  Grindelwald, 
in  Switzerland,  and  it  shows  a  group  standing  on  a 
glacier  on  the  side  of  a  mountain.  Those  in  the  group 
are  roped  together,  and  in  front  of  them  is  a  guide 
with  an  axe.  In  the  streets  of  Grindelwald  you  will 
see  little  groups  of  the  guides,  each  with  his  axe  and  a 
coil  of  rope.  The  guides  know  the  dangerous  places, 
and  if  you  entrust  yourself  to  their  care  they  will  take 
you  up  the  mountains  and  guard  you  against  any  danger 
of  falling  into  a  deep  crevasse  in  the  ice,  or  slipping 
over  a  cliff,  or  being  buried  in  an  avalanche  of  snow. 
While  we  were  at  Grindelwald  two  parties  went  up  the 
mountains  without  guides,  and  in  one  case  two  men 
were  killed  by  falling  over  a  cliff,  and  in  the  other  one 
perished  on  the  snow  of  exhaustion,  and  another  only 
just  escaped  with  his  life.  Jesus  is  a  Guide  who  never 
will  fail  to  save  any  who  trust  themselves  to  Him,  and 
if  the  boys  and  the  girls  will  take  Him  as  their  Guide 
He  will  lead  them  over  every  Hill  Difficulty  ana  lound 
every  Slough  of  Despond,  until  at  last  they  are 
welcomed  home  by  the  Great  King  in  his  City  of 
Light. 


184 


APPENDIX  III 

ILLUSTRATIONS     FROM    GENESIS    TO 
REVELATION 

The  illustrations  in  this  Appendix  have  been  selected 
from  a  great  variety  of  preachers  and  volumes.  There 
are  a  considerable  number  of  original  ones  by  the  author 
and  his  friends.  The  illustrations  are  grouped  in  the 
order  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  from  which  the  texts  are 
taken.  In  many  cases  the  text  appended  is  different  from 
that  of  the  sermon  in  which  the  illustration  was  used,  but 
the  point  illustrated  seemed  to  the  author — separated 
from  the  sermon — to  make  the  text  here  selected  a 
more  suitable  one. 

"AND   HE   DIED" 

Archbishop  Leighton,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
tells  us  of  a  man  who  entered  a  church  in  Glasgow 
one  day  when  the  same  chapter,  the  fifth  Genesis,  was 
being  read — the  patriarchs  who  lived  for  hundreds  of 
years — and  the  man  left  the  church  converted.  Arch- 
bishop Leighton  tells  us  that  what  converted  him  was 
the  perpetual  recurrence  of  the  phrase,  "  And  he  died  " 
(Gen.  v.). — Dr.  Horton. 

185 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

WRESTLING    PRAYER 

**  There's  nae  gude  done,  John,  till  ye  git  into  the 
close  grups,"  so  said  Jeems,  the  doorkeeper  of  his 
father's  church,  to  Dr.  John  Brown,  the  immortal 
author  of  "  Rab  and  his  Friends."  None  but  a  Christian 
of  long  and  deep  experience  would  have  said  that.  It 
was  not  a  slight  and  transient  touch  of  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  that  gave  Jacob  the  victory  at  Penuel ;  the  per- 
sistent wrestler's  words  :  "  I  will  not  let  Thee  go  except 
Thou  bless  me,"  showed  the  close  grip.  That  was  a 
prevailing  prayer  (Gen.  xxxii.  26). — Dr.  Cuyler. 

THE   FIFTH    COMMANDMENT 

Barrie  says  in  his  life  of  his  mother :  *'  Everything 
that  I  could  do  for  her  I  have  done  since  I  was  a  boy. 
I  look  back  through  the  years,  and  I  cannot  see  the 
smallest  thing  left  undone."  Happy  son,  to  feel  in 
that  way  towards  the  mother  that  has  vanished  out  of 
sight  (Exod.  XX.  12). — Dr.  Hugh  Macmillan. 

"WHAT   HATH    GOD   WROUGHT?" 

When  Cyrus  Field  was  laying  the  first  Atlantic 
cable,  the  world  looked  on,  doubtful  that  so  strange 
and  bold  an  undertaking  could  be  carried  forward,  and 
the  first  failure  was  accepted  by  most  people  on  both 
sides  of  the  ocean  as  only  what  might  have  been 
predicted.  But  Mr.  Field  had  vision  and  had  courage. 
He  rose  undaunted  and  tried  again.  When  final 
success   came   and   the    message,    "  What    hath    God 

186 


Appendix  III 

wi  lught  ?  '*  was  flashed  beneath  the  waves  from  one 
half  the  world  to  the  other,  the  nations  had  a  red-letter 
day,  the  glow  of  which  has  never  faded  (Numb,  xxiii. 
23). — Margaret  E.  Sangster  ("  The  Little  Kingdom 
of  Home  "). 


DISCIPLINE   AND   OBEDIENCE 

I  suppose  every  man  here  was  thrilled  in  his  boyhood 
days  by  the  story  of  how  Wolfe  took  Quebec.  Who 
has  not  read  the  story  alone,  perhaps  in  some  field  or 
meadow,  or  in  some  lonely  corner  of  the  schoolyard, 
and  lived  the  scene  over  again — how  the  boat  dropped 
down  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  one  order  to  the 
men  was  this  :  "  Perfect  silence."  No  shout,  no  whisper, 
but  wait.  And  then,  in  the  dead  silence,  the  awfully 
perilous  ascent  of  the  heights  of  Quebec,  a  company  of 
men  through  the  night  winding  their  way  up  the  narrow 
pathway.  If  the  enemy  once  hear  them,  if  the  enemy 
once  suspect  their  presence,  nothing  can  save  them, 
for  half-a-dozen  men  can  hold  the  defile  at  the  other 
end.  Everything  depends  upon  discipline,  silence, — the 
mounting  of  the  heights  until  the  last  man  is  ready  for 
the  captain's  word  to  strike  the  blow.  And  we  know 
how  those  men  ascended ;  no  sound  was  heard,  up  and 
up  while  the  hours  passed  on  until,  when  the  last  man 
was  upon  the  height,  the  word  was  given,  and  Quebec 
was  taken.  It  was  a  perfect  picture  of  the  truth  that 
consecration  to  work  expresses  itself  in  discipline  and 
obedience,  something  that  we  ever  need  to  remember 
(Neh.  vi.  15). — Dr.  Campbell  Morgan. 

187 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

"LIKE   HINDS'    FEET" 

"  He  will  make  my  feet  like  hinds'  feet,"  that  is,  He 
will  give  lightfootedness  in  the  else  weary  path  of 
plodding  life.  The  stag  is  the  very  emblem  of  elastic, 
springing  ease,  of  light,  bounding  gracefulness  that 
clears  every  obstacle,  of  sure-footed  swiftness.  And 
that  is  how  men  who  live  near  God,  and  have  His 
strength  in  them  because  they  do,  will  go  along  their 
life-path.  What  a  contrast  to  the  way  in  which  most 
of  us  get  through  our  day's  work !  We  plod  along, 
heavy-footed  and  spiritless,  like  a  ploughman  in  clayey 
furrows,  with  a  pound  of  soil  clogging  each  boot.  The 
monotony  of  our  constantly-recurring  small  duties,  the 
ups  and  downs  in  our  spirits,  the  stiff  bits  of  road  that 
we  have  all  to  pass  some  time,  and,  as  days  go  on,  the 
stiffer  muscles  which  make  us  like  to  walk  rather  more 
slowly  than  we  once  did — all  these  make  our  feet  very 
unlike  hinds'  feet  (Ps.  xviii.  33). — Dr.  Maclaren. 

THE   SHEPHERD   PSALM 

I  have  seen  a  woman  take  some  querulous,  fretful 
child,  oh,  when  the  little  thing  was  just  a  bundle  of 
crossness,  and,  instead  of  thrashing  it — you  cannot  do 
without  thrashing  sometimes,  but  it  does  not  do  always 
— instead  of  taking  the  cross  little  thing  and  thrashing 
it,  she  just  lifted  that  little  bundle  of  wretchedness,  and 
laid  it  on  her  lap  and  drew  it  into  her  bosom,  and  just 
hummed  away.  Do  you  know  what  happened  ?  In 
about  ten  minutes  that  little  bundle  of  wretchedness 
was  lying  straightened  out,  drowned  in  a  blissful  sleep. 

t88 


Appendix  III 

Oh,  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  nursing  mother  in 
God's  household,  would  take  somebody  to-night  that  is 
tired,  and  weary,  and  cross,  and  wretched,  and  miserable, 
just  draw  you  into  it,  and  croon,  croon  into  your  ear  the 
matchless  music  of  the  twenty-third  Psalm !  (Ps.  xxiii.  i). 
— Rev.  John  McNeill. 

"THE   LORD   IS   MY   STRENGTH" 

"  The  Lord  is  my  strength."  Is  the  conjunction  pre- 
sumptuous, to  bring  the  Almighty  into  communion  with 
me  ?  I  made  a  little  toy  water-mill  the  other  day  for 
my  little  girl,  and  I  used  the  water  from  the  Welsh  hills 
to  work  it.  And  we  can  let  in  the  River  of  Water  of 
Life  to  work  the  little  mill  of  our  life,  to  make  all  its 
powers  fruitful  and  effective.     Our  God  is 

"  A  gracious,  willing  Guest, 
While  He  can  find  one  humble  heart 
Wherein  to  rest." 

(Ps.  xxvii.  i). — Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett,  M.A. 

"TASTE   AND   SEE  r 

The  Divine  regard !  It  is  eleven  o'clock  on  a  cold 
winter  night.  The  stars  twinkle  in  the  distance  as  if 
they  shivered  in  the  cold.  The  frost  is  in  the  air,  and 
there  are  icicles  upon  your  beard  and  icicles  hang  from 
the  houses  and  from  the  branches  of  the  trees.  You 
walk  hard  and  yet  you  are  cold.  At  last  you  arrive  at 
your  own  welcome  door.  The  light  is  in  the  window  ; 
you  are  met  by  those  you  love.  The  fire  laughs  in  the 
grate.     You  take  your  own  armchair.     Well,  now,  do 

189 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

you  ask  your  wife,  "  Will  you  prove  that  it  is  good  for 
me  to  be  here  ?  "  Your  wife  would  have  a  lower 
opinion  of  you  than  ever  she  had  before.  ''  Why,  bless 
you  !  you  are  in  your  own  armchair  "  ;  the  icicles  are 
gone,  the  supper  is  on  the  table.  Your  wife  and 
children  smile  upon  you,  your  youngest  puts  her  hand 
upon  your  knee  and  prattles  away.  Do  3^ou  want  any 
proof  that  it  is  good  ?  I  am  giving  you  exactly  what  I 
feel.  I  don't  want  anyone  to  prove  to  me  that  the 
Gospel  is  good — I  know  it.  May  the  Divine  regard 
beam  like  the  light  of  heaven  upon  your  troubled 
breasts !  (Ps.  xxxiv.  8). — Rev.  Thomas  Jones,  "  the 
Poet  Preacher." 

*'OUT  OF  A  HORRIBLE  PIT" 

I  knew  a  man  who  had  a  bit  of  board.  He  said, 
"  When  they  pulled  down  the  old  chapel,  I  went  in  and 
sawed  it  out ;  it  was  the  board  from  the  kneeHng  part 
of  the  Communion-rail,  where,"  he  said,  "  I  was  kneel- 
ing when  God  spake  pardon  to  my  soul.  Whenever 
the  devil  comes  and  says  it  was  all  a  delusion,  I  say, 
*  Never';  I  up  and  at  him  with  the  bit  of  board  on  which 
I  was  kneeling  when  God  saved  me  "  (Ps.  xl.  2). — Rev. 
Marshall  Hartley. 

"HOPE  THOU  IN  GOD!" 

You  may  have  seen  that  picture  by  Mr.  Watts,  of 
Hope,  in  which  she  is  depicted  as  a  blindfolded  maiden, 
with  downcast  face,  sitting  upon  the  axis  of  the  earth. 
Above  her  shines  the  morning  star,  and  already  the  air 

190 


Appendix  III 

is  blue  with  translucent  light ;  she,  however,  sees  it  not, 
whilst  the  earth  is  making  her  difficult  progress  through 
a  sea  of  floating  cirri.  In  her  left  hand  she  is  holding 
her  lyre,  every  string  is  broken  except  one,  and  she  is 
intently  hearkening  to  its  vibration,  as  though  it  lay 
between  her  and  absolute  despair.  I  say  to  you,  my 
friend,  take  these  words,  take  this  sermon,  and  above 
all,  take  the  thought  of  the  great  God,  from  whom  you 
come  and  to  whom  you  will  go,  and  let  that  chord 
vibrate  until  the  bandage  is  torn  from  your  eyes  and  you 
find  yourself  bathed  in  morning  light  (Ps.  xlii.  5). — 
Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

SAIL  SOUTHWARDS! 

Sometimes,  said  Dr.  W.  J.  Dawson,  the  fishermen 
of  the  Newfoundland  cod  fishing  fleet  are  so  numbed 
and  dazed  by  the  cold  that  they  are  no  longer  able  to 
keep  at  work.  What  they  do,  when  body  and  brain  are 
both  disabled,  is  to  sail  southwards  till  they  get  into 
warm  water,  and  feel  the  softer  breezes  blowing  on 
them  and  the  warmth  of  the  sun.  A  few  days  in  the 
genial  southern  waters  restores  their  courage  and  their 
nerve,  and  they  return  to  the  fishing  banks.  Is  it  not 
so  in  the  spiritual  sphere  ?  Sometimes  an  individual, 
or  a  church,  in  a  cold  spiritual  temperature,  becomes 
inert  and  powerless.  Let  the  man  or  the  church  sail 
southwards — in  other  words,  get  into  the  atmosphere  of 
prayer,  and  feel  the  warm  breath  of  the  Spirit  beam- 
ing on  and  "  restoring  the  soul"  (Ps.  li.  11,  12;  Ps. 
xxiii.). 

191 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

ASSURANCE   OF  ANSWERED   PRAYER 

I  heard  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bates,  of  Boston,  U.S.A., 
say  that  when  he  had  charge  of  the  Boston  Bethel, 
where  Father  Taylor  preached  his  wonderful  sermons 
that  brought  Emerson  and  the  various  literary  men  of 
Boston  to  hear  him,  one  night  a  Vermont  mother 
knocked  at  his  door  and  said,  "  The  ship  is  lost ;  my 
sailor  boy  was  on  board,  but  he  is  saved.  I  have  given 
God  thanks,  but  I  have  not  found  him  yet."  He 
inquired,  *'  How  do  you  know  the  ship  is  lost,  and  how 
do  you  know  your  boy  is  saved  ? "  She  looked  at  him  as 
if  to  read  him  through  and  through,  to  see  if  he  knew 
anything  of  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  then  she  said, 
*'  Because  God  told  me  so  before  I  left  home,  when  I 
was  praying  to  Him."  He  went  down  to  the  offices 
and  they  said,  "Yes,  Dr.  Bates,  the  ship  is  lost  and 
every  soul  on  board  ;  not  one  is  saved."  He  came  back 
and  told  her  the  news.  He  said  she  fell  on  her  knees 
and  poured  out  such  a  prayer  that  he  had  seldom  heard, 
and  closed  by  thanking  God  that  her  sailor  boy  was 
safe  and  asking  Him  to  bring  him  to  her.  He  kept  the 
woman  over  night,  and  went  down  next  day  to  the 
offices  for  news,  and  waited  long  until  they  said,  "  It  is 
no  use  waiting,  Dr.  Bates.  If  there  is  any  news  we 
will  let  you  know  at  once."  That  evening  as  they  were 
sitting  down  to  tea  there  came  a  telegram  saying, 
**  There  is  a  boy  down  at  Cape  Cod  saved  from  the 
wreck !  "  Next  morning  the  train  brought  the  boy  in, 
and  Dr.  Bates  said  you  should  have  seen  that  mother — 
that  little  woman — as  she  took  the  great  strapping 

192 


Appendix  III 

fellow,  her  sailor  boy,  in  her  arms  and  fairly  lifted  him 
off  his  feet,  and  heard  him  tell  how,  when  the  storm 
struck  the  ship,  and  the  ship  went  down,  he  clung  to  a 
spar  and  was  drifted  to  shore,  the  only  one  saved  of  all 
on  board.  That  mother's  prayer  held  up  her  boy 
when  the  ship  was  going  down  in  an  ocean  sepulchre 
(Ps.  Ixxviii.  13). — Dr.  Hugh  Johnston. 

THE  CUP  OF  SOLOMON 

You  know  the  old  legend  about  an  enchanted  cup 
filled  with  poison  and  put  treacherously  into  the  hand 
of  a  king.  He  signed  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  it  and 
named  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  it  shivered  in  his 
grasp.  Now  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  that  way, 
reverently  and  seriously,  when  you  are  in  doubt  about 
an  amusement  or  about  an  undertaking.  Take  the 
name  of  the  Lord  as  a  test.  Name  Him  over  many 
a  cup  that  other  hands  will  offer  to  you  (Ps.  cxvi.  12, 13). 
— Rev.  Marshall  Hartley. 

RICHES    OF   THE   WORD 

There  is  a  beautiful  Eastern  story  of  a  child  walking 
Deside  the  sea,  who  saw  a  bright  spangle  lying  in  the 
sand.  She  stooped  down  and  picked  it  up,  and  found 
that  it  was  attached  to  a  fine  thread  of  gold.  As  she 
drew  this  out  of  the  sand  there  were  other  bright 
spangles  on  it.  She  drew  up  the  gold  thread  and 
wound  it  about  her  neck  and  around  her  head  and  her 
arms  and  her  body,  until  from  head  to  foot  she  was 
covered  with  the  bright  threads  of  gold  and  sparkled 

193  N 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

with  the  brilliance  of  the  silver  spangles.  So  it  is  when 
we  lift  out  of  God's  Word  an  ornament  of  beauty  to 
put  into  our  life,  we  find  that  other  fragments  of  loveli- 
ness all  bound  together  on  the  golden  chain  of  love  are 
attached  to  the  one  we  have  taken  up  (Ps.  cxix.  14). 
— Dr.  J.  R.  Miller. 

"OPEN   THOU    MINE   EYES" 

In  this  great  Book  of  Righteousness,  this  Old  Testa- 
ment, a  good  many  of  us  see  but  little  into  the  gleam 
here  and  there ;  our  eyes  have  not  been  opened  to  its 
breadth  and  depth  and  significance.  I  remember  once 
looking  over  a  magnificent  piece  of  scenery — mountains, 
rocks  and  sea — and  all  of  it  bathed  in  the  splendours  of 
the  setting  sun.  And  I  heard  a  lady  close  to  me 
complain  that  she  did  not  think  much  about  it  because 
it  was  all  land  and  water.  Exactly.  But,  I  say,  what 
if  Claude  had  been  there  ?  What  if  Turner  had  been 
there  ?  What  would  they  have  seen  in  that  panorama 
of  splendour  and  delight  ?  What  did  your  Master  see 
in  the  Old  Testament  ?  If  it  is  all  land  and  water  to 
you,  what  was  it  to  your  Master  ?  How  Christ 
appealed  to  these  prophets,  minstrels,  and  seers,  and 
how  He  brought  out  of  this  Old  Testament  all  the  won- 
drous things  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount !  (Ps.  cxix.  18). 
— Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

THE    DANGER  AND   THE  LIGHTHOUSE 

The  passengers  on  an  Atlantic  liner  are  straining 
their  eyes  to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  Welsh  coast. 

194 


Appendix  III 

Right  in  the  steamer's  path,  off  the  coast  of  Anglesey, 
is  a  group  of  dangerous  rocks  called  the  Skerries,  twice 
each  day  covered  by  the  tide.  Someone  calls  out, 
"  There  are  the  Skerries ! "  And  presently  over  the 
steamer's  bows  all  fix  their  gaze  upon  a  bright  point  of 
light  gleaming  far  away  on  the  darkening  horizon. 
"  But  where  are  the  Skerries  ?  "  "  There  are  the 
Skerries."  Long  before  you  reach  them  their  presence 
and  position  are  disclosed  to  you,  but  only  by  the  light- 
house that  has  been  placed  in  the  dangerous  spot  to 
render  them  harmless.  So  the  Word  in  which  God 
announces  peril  to  the  voyager  on  the  sea  of  life  is  a 
Word  which  spells  refuge.  Before  He  announces  the 
danger  He  announces  the  deliverance  (Ps.  cxix.  105). — 
Rev.  C.  S.  Pedley,  B.A. 

THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  JUST 

There  is  a  man  in  my  church  who  said :  "  The 
memory  of  my  father  is  a  sacred  influence  to  me  ; 
yet  I  can  remember  the  day  when  I  was  hungry 
because  of  my  father's  conduct,  and  I  could  not  under- 
stand it.  I  can  remember  my  mother  crying  as  she  cut 
the  last  loaf,  keeping  none  for  herself,  and  gave  to  us 
what  there  was.  My  father  had  been  turned  from  his 
business  rather  than  do  a  mean  and  shabby  thing. 
They  gave  him  three  days  to  think  of  it,  and  then  he 
came  home  with  no  prospects  and  no  money.  I 
remember  my  mother  taking  the  two  eldest  of  us  to 
one  side,  and  saying,  *  It  breaks  my  heart  to  see  you 
hungry,  but  I  will  tell  you  what  kind  of  man  your  father 
is ' ;  and  she  told  us.     Many  a  time  since  I  have  been 

1^5  N  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

tempted  to  do  wrong,  and  there  rose  before  me  the 
figure  of  the  man  who  dared  even  to  see  his  children 
suffer  before  he  could  sully  his  conscience  and  sin 
against  God  "  (Prov.  x.  7). — Rev.  R.J.  Campbell,  M.A, 

A  LION  IN  THE  WAY 

In  Princeton  College  one  of  two  most  intimate  friends 
was  afraid  to  divulge  to  the  other  that  he  had  deter- 
mined to  begin  a  new  life  and  to  serve  Christ.  At 
length  he  mustered  courage  to  make  the  confession, 
and  to  his  wondering  delight  he  found  his  friend  in 
the  same  state  of  mind.  Each  one  had  been  a  lion  in 
the  way  to  the  other.  A  timid,  shrinking  wife  is  often 
afraid  to  expose  her  secret  anxieties  to  an  irreligious 
husband's  laugh.  A  father  who  would  not  be  afraid  to 
face  a  cannon  on  a  battlefield  finds  it  no  easy  bit  of 
bravery  to  call  in  his  children  and  offer  his  first  family 
prayer.  When  a  certain  pastor  invited  every  anxious 
inquirer  to  retire  with  him  to  his  study  for  conversation 
and  prayer,  one  young  man  moved  stealthily  up  the  aisle 
until  his  eye  met  the  eye  of  a  companion,  who  gave  him 
a  look  of  surprise  and  contempt ;  and  he  slunk  back 
again  to  hide  his  confusion  and  to  stifle  the  conviction 
of  conscience.  "What  a  fool!"  you  may  say.  Very 
true ;  but,  good  reader,  have  you  never  played  the 
coward  at  the  bray  of  an  ass  who  wore  the  skin  of  a 
lion  ?  (Prov.  xxii.  13). — Rev.  John  Robertson. 

RETURNING  AFTER    MANY   DAYS 

Bread  cast  upon  the  waters  may  come  back  after 
many  days.     A  good  man,  in  the  period  of  his  affluence, 

196 


Appendix  III 

poured  out  lavishly  on  friends,  kindred,  and  the  poor 
his  bounty,  considering  himself  God's  almoner.  A 
sequence  of  untoward  events,  for  none  of  which  he  was 
responsible,  left  him  poor,  and  he  moved  from  his  home 
town  to  a  great  city,  where  in  an  obscure  clerkship 
he  died.  On  the  day  of  the  funeral,  the  widow  and 
daughters  had  neither  loaf  nor  purse  in  the  house.  As 
they  sat  together  in  the  gathering  dusk,  a  neighbour 
tapped  at  the  door.  "  I  knew  you  would  be  too  tired 
to  prepare  a  supper,"  she  said,  "  so  I  ventured  to  bring 
you  one."  She  set  down  a  dainty  tray  and  departed 
noiselessly.  "  Girls,"  said  the  mother,  **  we  have 
nothing,  but  I  can  trust  your  father's  God."  Early 
the  next  morning  a  messenger  left  a  box.  It  was  sent 
by  their  father's  fellow-clerks  and  salesmen,  and,  with  a 
letter  of  regret  and  appreciation,  contained  fifty  dollars. 
"  We  send  it  instead  of  flowers,  which  we  did  not  send 
yesterday,  thinking  they  would  soon  fade."  The  first 
mail  brought  a  letter  from  an  old  friend,  enclosing  a 
cheque  for  two  hundred  dollars.  "  Once,"  said  the 
writer,  "  when  I  was  in  straits,  Ralph  helped  me."  In 
three  days  six  hundred  dollars  came  to  the  widow,  every 
dollar  a  surprise,  and  every  one  a  testimony  to  the 
radiance  of  the  life  torch  that  had  lighted  others  in  dark 
hours  (Eccles.  xi.  i). — Margaret  E.  Sangster  ("  The 
Little  Kingdom  of  Home"). 

THE   LITTLE   FOXES   THAT   SPOIL  THE 

VINES 

You    need  not  break  the  glasses  of  a  telescope,  or 
coat  them  over  with  paint,  in  order  to  prevent  you  from 

197 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

seeing  through  them.  Just  breathe  upon  them,  and  the 
dew  of  your  breath  will  shut  out  all  the  stars.  So  it 
does  not  require  great  crimes  to  hide  the  light  of  God's 
countenance.  Little  ifaults  can  do  it  just  as  well. 
Take  a  shield  and  cast  a  spear  upon  it,  and  it  will  leave 
in  it  one  great  dent.  Prick  it  all  over  with  a  million 
little  needle  shafts,  and  they  will  take  the  polish  from 
it  far  more  than  the  piercing  of  the  spear.  So  it  is  not 
so  much  the  great  sins  which  take  the  freshness  from 
our  consciences,  as  the  numberless  petty  faults  which 
we  are  all  the  while  committing  (Song  of  Songs, 
ii.  15). — Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

SWORDS  INTO  PLOUGHSHARES 

In  all  the  war  in  South  Africa  there  was  nothing 
which  made  so  deep  an  impression  upon  me  as  one 
little  incident.  Our  men  were  in  loose  skirmishing 
order,  scattered  over  a  kopje,  firing  at  the  enemy  on 
the  other  hill  at  a  distance  from  them.  And  while  one 
of  our  men  was  firing  from  behind  a  rock,  a  Boer  had 
somehow  or  other  contrived  to  creep  under  the  scrub, 
and  to  come  quite  near  him.  And  suddenly  the  enemy, 
the  Boer,  sprang  up  from  a  rock  twenty  paces  off,  and 
the  two  men,  practically  there  alone  on  the  kopje,  Boer 
and  Briton,  did  not  shoot  each  other,  because  they 
looked  into  each  other's  faces,  and  they  could  not  forget 
that  they  were  men.  And  neither  fired;  both  came 
forward  and  shook  hands.  Humanity  was  too  strong 
for  them  (Isa.  ii.  4). — Dr.  R.  F.  Horton. 


ig8 


Appendix  III 

"A  LITTLE   CHILD   SHALL   LEAD" 

One  day  I  saw  a  big  blacksmith  bend  over  his  little 
child  in  a  cot,  and  the  child  got  his  tiny  hand  entangled 
in  the  blacksmith's  long  beard.  Presently  his  wife  came 
in,  saying,  "  Come  away  to  tea."  **  I  cannot,"  he  said, 
"  the  child  has  fast  hold  of  me."  It  was  quite  clear  the 
child  had  not  got  him  by  the  sense  of  power ;  but  in  a 
way  it  had,  by  its  yearning,  helpless  need.  A  cripple 
child  will  pull  God  down  out  of  Heaven  (Isa.  xi.  6). — 
Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

THE  LAME  TAKE  THE  PREY 

In  human  life  a  man  who  is  lame  any  way  misses  the 
prey,  misses  the  prize ;  but  weakness  has  a  fascination 
for  God,  and  those  who  have  lost  everything  that  this 
world  can  give  come  off  best  with  our  Heavenly  Father. 
I  got  an  illustration  of  this  the  other  day  when  I 
happened  to  be  staying  at  a  farmhouse.  With  one  ex- 
ception the  family  consisted  of  robust,  hearty  children, 
but  there  was  one  little  lame  boy.  Whilst  I  was  stay- 
ing there  came  in  a  great  hamper  of  apples,  and  at  once 
all  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  family,  having  eyed  them 
wistfully,  proceed  to  take  the  apples.  The  little  lame 
fellow,  with  his  puny,  wan  face,  looked  eagerly  as  the 
apples  disappeared,  and  no  one  thought  of  him  till 
mother  came,  a  bustling,  quick-tempered  woman.  She 
said,  "  What  is  that  you  are  doing  ?  Put  all  those 
apples  back  again,  I  tell  you."  And  very  ruefully  they 
replaced  them.  **  Now,"  she  said,  "Jimmy,  you  come 
and  lake  your  pick."     And  the  little  lame  fellow  on  the 

199 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

crutch  took  the  ripest  and  juiciest,  and  went  back  with 
a  flush  on  his  pale  cheeks.  Then  mother  said  to  the 
other  children,  "  Now,  do  what  you  like  with  the  rest." 
I  saw  how  in  mother's  love  the  lame  take  the  prey 
(Isa.  xxxiii.  23). — Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

THE   HIGHWAY   IN   THE   HEART 

Some  of  us  in  connection  with  this  fellowship  have 
been  reading  recently  anew  the  story  of  Gilmour  of 
Mongolia  and  his  wonderful  work.  In  missionary 
enterprise  he  seems  to  me  to  be  a  wonderful  illustration 
of  the  true  pilgrim  of  the  Cross  at  all  times.  He 
packed  up  the  things  that  were  necessary,  and  strapping 
them  on  his  back  started  into  the  lone  land  alone.  No 
road,  no  pathway,  no  announcement  of  his  coming,  no 
pioneer  to  run  before  him  to  discover  the  way ;  alone 
he  went  to  Mongolia,  and  for  long  weary  years  denied 
himself  the  common  rights  of  a  man  in  order  that 
he  might  find  the  highway  of  God  into  that  lone  and 
hidden  land ;  and,  thank  God !  he  found  it.  But  the 
highway  was  in  his  heart,  and  this  is  a  perpetual 
illustration  of  the  pilgrim  character  (Isa.  xl.  3). — 
Dr.  Campbell  Morgan. 

TREADING  THE  WINEPRESS  ALONE 

Have  you  ever  tried  to  do  a  piece  of  work  for  others 

all  alone  ?     I    know   some   people   that   have.      Most 

generally  it  is  a  woman.     She  takes  up  this  work,  and 

her  husband  wishes  she  would  leave  it  alone.     He  scoffs 

at  her ;  it  is  no  use.     Her  children  wish  she  would  leave 

200 


Appendix  III 

it  alone ;  they  think  she  is  wearing  herself  out  in  vain. 
Her  neighbours  don't  see  what  she  is  trying  to  do 
down  there ;  she  could  not  accomplish  anything  any- 
way. And  still  she  works  away.  By-and-by  some 
person  gets  her  vision  and  comes  and  lends  her  a  hand, 
and  then  another  and  then  another,  and  then  at  last 
+here  is  a  group  of  three  or  four.  How  every  one  that 
nes  lightens  something  of  the  load  and  adds  something 
/  the  inspiration  ! 

Do  you  remember  the  story — I  was  reading  it  last 
week — Whittier,  the  young  poet,  writes  the  first  anti- 
slavery  poem,  and  his  sister  gets  it,  I  believe,  unbeknown 
to  him,  and  carries  it  to  the  newspaper  and  slips  it 
under  the  door,  and  Garrison  gets  it  and  reads  it  and 
prints  it,  and  forthwith  writes  his  letter  back  to  the 
unknown  poet  thanking  him  for  that  contribution.  The 
man,  that  had  been  all  alone  fighting  the  battle  against 
slavery,  has  now  gotten  one  man  to  fight  with  him, 
and  his  heart  is  full  of  cheer  and  hope  because  he  has 
joined  hands  with  him  (Isa.  Ixiii.  3). — Dr.  Lyman 
Abbott. 

EYES    THAT   HAVE    SEEN    THE    KING         V 

A  story  is  told  by  Mr.  Silvester  Home  of  a  college 
professor  who  often  told  in  the  class-room  of  thoughts 
that  had  come  to  him  in  his  garden.  The  thoughts 
were  often  so  beautiful,  and  opened  up  such  vistas  to 
the  imagination,  that  the  students,  none  of  whom  had 
visited  the  professor  at  his  home,  pictured  the  garden 
as  a  very  Eden — spacious,  and  a  glory  of  trees  and 
flowers.     One  day  two  of  the  students  made  a  pretext 

201 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

to  visit  the  professor  and  get  a  glimpse,  if  possible,  of 
the  garden.  They  were  received,  and  taken  into  the 
garden,  which,  to  their  surprise,  they  found  was  the 
narrowest  of  strips  shut  in  by  high  brick  walls.  "  But, 
professor,"  they  said  in  their  pained  disillusion,  "  surely 
this  is  not  the  garden  you  are  always  talking  about,  in 
which  such  fine  thoughts  come  to  you  ?  "  "  Oh,  yes,  it 
is,"  he  said  with  a  smile.  "  But  it  is  so  small.  We 
had  imagined  quite  a  large  garden."  "  But,"  replied 
the  professor,  pointing  to  the  clear  sky  studded  with 
stars,  "see  how  high  it  is  !  "  (Isa.  vi.  5). 

y      A   PARDONING   GOD 

We  have  a  custom  in  Massachusetts  on  Thanksgiving 
Day  which  prescribes  that  our  Governor  should  go  to 
the  penitentiary  and  give  a  free  pardon  to  any  one 
of  the  prisoners  to  whom  such  exceptional  clemency 
might  be  shown.  You  can  imagine  how  anxious  each 
man  is  to  know  whether  he  is  the  one  chosen ;  it  is  a 
pathetic  moment  when  the  announcement  is  made. 
Well,  they  tell  the  story  of  a  man — let  us  call  him 
Jasper.  On  a  certain  Thanksgiving  Day  the  warder 
read  the  proclamation,  that  exceptional  clemency  was 
being  extended  that  day  to  one  who  had  been  in  the 
penitentiary  twenty  years,  by  name  Jasper.  The  man 
stood  perfectly  still.  Then  the  order  was  given  to  the 
men  to  leave  their  seats  and  to  march  out.  They  all 
turned,  and  Jasper  turned  with  the  rest,  keeping  step 
as  he  had  done  for  twenty  years.  Then  the  warder 
called  out,  "Jasper,  the  Governor  has  granted  you 
pardon."     *'  Me  1     It  cannot  be  me ;  it  must  be  some 

2,02, 


Appendix  III 

other  Jasper !  Me  !  '*  The  very  thought  of  it  broke 
the  poor  man  down,  and  he  wept  and  wept.  *'  Me  ! 
Me  !  Me  !  "  It  is  the  hardest  thing  for  any  of  us  to 
believe  that  God  out  of  His  holiness  looks  down  on  us 
individuals  and  says,  "  Yes,  Jasper,  you  are  forgiven  ; 
justified  this  very  day."  That  is  what  we  need 
(Micah  vii.  i8). — Dr.  Lo rimer. 


THE   BLESSING   OF  THE    HUMBLE 

I  think  if  I  were  a  little  bolder  the  Lord  would 
have  some  amazing  surprises  for  me.  I  wish  I  could 
be  something  like  Samuel  Rutherford  was  with  John 
Gordon,  that  wealthy  laird  who  was  getting  a  little 
wrong  in  his  spiritual  life.  In  one  letter  he  said, 
*'  Read  over  your  life  with  the  light  of  God's  daylight 
on  it.  Be  humble,  man ;  walk  softly.  Down,  down, 
for  God's  sake,  with  your  top-sail.  Stoop,  man,  stoop ; 
it  is  a  low  entry  at  Heaven's  gate  "  (Matt.  v.  3). — Rev. 
J.  H.  JOWETT,  M.A. 

THE   GLORY   OF  THE   FLOWER 

Ruskin  has  a  beautiful  story  of  a  flower.  It  was 
told  him  by  a  friend,  whom  he  asked  to  write  it  down 
for  the  benefit  of  Ruskin's  St.  George's  Guild.  I  can- 
not give  it  to  you  at  full  length,  but  here  is  the  gist  of 
it.  It  is  the  story  of  his  first  flower.  He  was  a  poor 
boy  at  the  time  and  in  a  needy  state,  when  he  became 
the  owner  of  his  first  flower,  "a  poor,  peaky,  little 
sprouting  crocus."  He  tells  of  the  care  with  which  he 
tended  it,  protecting  it  from  the  searching  March  winds, 

203 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

covering  it  with  a  flower  pot  till  the  season  got  milder. 
It  was  ever  uppermost  in  his  thoughts,  whether  sleeping 
or  waking.  Until,  at  length,  one  sunny,  silent  Sunda}' 
morning  it  opened  its  glowing,  golden  sacramental  cup, 
gleaming  like  light  from  heaven  dropped  in  a  dark  place 
— living  light  and  fire.  So  it  seemed  to  his  poor  vision; 
and  he  called  the  household  and  the  neighbours  from 
their  cares  to  share  his  rapture.  But,  alas  !  his  dream 
was  ended  :  the  flower  had  no  fascination  for  those  who 
came  at  his  call.  It  was  but  a  yellow  crocus  to  them. 
Some  laughed,  some  tittered,  some  jeered  him,  and  old 
Dick  Willis,  poor  man  !  who  got  a  crust  by  selling  soft 
water  by  the  pail,  he  only  rubbed  his  dim  eyes,  and 
exclaimed  in  pity  :  "  God  bless  the  poor  boy  !  "  Little 
thinking — adds  Ruskin — how  much  he  was  already 
blessed  (Matt.  vi.  28). — Rev.  J.  S.  Maver. 

THE  WOOER  OF  POVERTY 
There  was  a  young  Italian  keeping  feast  with  his 
friends  one  night,  seven  hundred  years  ago,  and  he 
wearied  of  the  wine  and  wearied  of  the  jests.  Nothing 
wrong ;  a  friendly  feast.  He  went  out  and  stood  beneath 
the  blue  Umbrian  sky.  By-and-by  his  friends  came 
out,  and  they  walked  home  together,  and  they  said  to 
him,  "  You  are  in  love."  But  he  was  saying  nothing, 
and  he  had  that  distant  look  upon  his  face  of  a  man 
who  is  looking  into  another  world.  *'  You  are  in  love. 
Who  is  it } "  "I  am,"  he  said,  "and  my  bride  is  called 
Poverty.  No  one  has  been  anxious  to  woo  her  since 
Jesus  lived,  and  I  am  going  to  serve  her  all  my  days  " 
('Matt.  viii. 20). — Dr.John  Watson  ("Ian  Maclaren"). 

204 


Appendix  III 

THE   SAINTSHIP  OF   SERVICE 

There  is  a  legend  in  the  Greek  Church  about  the  two 
favoured  saints,  St.  Cassianus — the  type  of  monastic 
asceticism,  individual  character,  which  "  bids  for 
cloistered  cell  its  neighbour  and  its  work  farewell " — 
and  St.  Nicholas — the  type  of  generous,  active,  unselfish 
laborious  Christianity.  St.  Cassianus  enters  Heaven 
and  Christ  says  to  him,  "  What  hast  thou  seen  on 
earth,  Cassianus?  "  **  I  saw,"  he  answered,  **a  peasant 
floundering  with  his  waggon  in  the  marsh."  "  Didst 
thou  help  him?"  "No!"  *' Why  not?"  "I  was 
coming  before  Thee,"  said  St.  Cassianus,  "and  I  was 
afraid  of  soiling  my  white  robes."  Then  St.  Nicholas 
enters  Heaven,  all  covered  with  mud  and  mire.  "  Why 
so  stained  and  soiled,  St.  Nicholas?"  said  the  Lord. 
**  I  saw  a  peasant  floundering  in  the  marsh,"  said  St. 
Nicholas,  "  and  I  put  my  shoulder  to  the  wheel  and 
helped  him  out."  "  Blessed  art  thou,"  answered  the 
Lord;  *'thou  didst  well;  thou  didst  better  than 
Cassianus."  And  He  blessed  St.  Nicholas  with  four- 
fold approval  (Matt.  xii.  ii). — Dean  Farrar. 

"^THE    BRIDGE    OF    BROTHERLINESS 

You  remember  that  story  of  Tolstoy's  early  days, 
how  the  young  count  went  out  of  doors  from  the 
palace  on  a  bitter  morning,  and  passed  the  beggar  at 
the  gate  starved  and  blue  and  well-nigh  dead  with  the 
cold  and  the  hunger.  And  the  young  count  hastily  felt 
in  all  his  pockets,  but  he  had  no  coin  with  him.  He 
felt  to  see  if  he  had  any  piece  of  jewellery,  but  he  had 

205 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

not  even  that ;  and  he  stood  before  the  beggar  fumbling 
for  the  gift  that  he  fain  would  give.  At  last,  with  a 
burning  face,  he  said  to  the  poor  starved  man,  "  I  have 
nothing  with  me,  my  brother."  And  he  passed  an  hour 
afterwards  into  the  palace,  and  at  the  gates  he  found 
the  beggar,  but  not  starved  and  blue,  but  warm  and 
glowing  and  happy.  And  the  young  count  said,  as  he 
heard  the  beggar's  benediction  upon  him  as  he  passed, 
"  But  I  gave  you  nothing."  "  Yes,"  said  the  beggar ; 
"  but  you  called  me  brother."  Oh,  love  and  sympathy 
that  day  bridged  a  social  chasm  that  seemed  unbridgable 
(Matt,  xxiii.  8). — Rev.  Thomas  Yates. 

THE  PREACHER  IN  THE  POTATO  PATCH 

I  have  a  friend,  a  minister,  who  hears  the  wishes  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  is  in  His  secrets.  He  was  going  one 
week-day  afternoon  to  preach  in  a  certain  village,  and 
was  visiting  from  house  to  house  before  the  service. 
He  went  into  one  house  where  he  found  an  old  man 
sitting  over  a  fire  in  very  great  trouble.  "  How  is  it," 
my  friend  said,  "  that  you  are  so  unhappy  ?  "  And  the 
reply  was,  "  Everybody's  got  their  'taters  in  but  me." 
He  was  in  trouble  because  his  rheumatism  prevented 
him  setting  his  potatoes.  Now  it  nowhere  says  in  the 
Minutes  of  Conference  or  in  Wesley's  "  Twelve  Rules 
of  a  Helper  "  that  a  minister  has  to  go  and  dig  some- 
body else's  potato  patch,  but  my  friend  said,  "  Where 
is  the  spade  ?  "  And  he  took  off  his  ministerial  collar, 
and  went  into  the  garden  and  put  the  potatoes  in,  row 
after  row,  row  after  row.  1  take  it  that  that  was  a 
service  that  the  angels  watched.     He  did  not  wait  foi 

206 


Appendix  III 

a  commandment;    he   followed    the  wishes     of  God 
(Matt.  XXV.  36). — Rev.  Thomas  Champness. 

"YE   DID   IT   UNTO   ME" 

There  is  no  legend  which  has  so  constantly  appeared 
as  that — in  one  form  or  another — of  a  sufferer  who 
appeals  for  help  under  a  disguise,  and  then  when  the  help 
has  been  given  or  refused,  it  proves  to  have  been  the 
Lord.  In  Norway  the  pied  woodpecker  is  explained  as 
being  a  woman  who  on  one  occasion  was  asked  by  the 
Lord  in  disguise  for  a  little  meat,  and  in  His  goodness 
He  multiplied  her  store;  and  then  she  in  the  churlish 
thriftiness  of  a  good  housewife  refused  to  give  Him 
anything,  and  in  consequence  she  was  transformed  into 
the  pied  woodpecker,  half  white  and  half  black,  and  she 
was  condemned  to  seek  her  own  food  between  the  bark 
and  the  tree,  and  whenever  she  should  become  com- 
pletely black,  that  is  completely  penitent,  she  should 
be  restored.  In  the  south  of  Europe  this  kind  of  story 
takes  sometimes  the  most  lovely  and  poetical  form. 
For  instance,  in  the  story  of  Santa  Zeta,  the  patron 
saint  of  the  town  of  Lucca  in  Italy,  we  are  told  how 
the  saint,  who  was  a  servant-girl,  had  been  clothed  by 
her  master  in  the  storm  with  his  jewelled  cloak,  and  she 
had  given  the  jewelled  cloak  away  to  a  beggar  whom 
she  met  in  the  street : 

**  But  just  as  Zeta  trembling  passed  the  door, 
Her  master  met  her  and,  with  searching  eye. 

He  looked  to  see  if  still  the  cloak  she  wore. 
'Twas  gone ;  at  which  his  anger  rose  so  high 

"With  bitter  words  he  did  his  rage  outpour, 
And  sharp  reproof,  while  she  made  no  reply. 

207 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

But  while  in  loud  and  angry  voice  he  spoke, 
Behold,  appeared  the  beggar  with  the  cloak, 
Who,  thanking  Zeta  kindly  as  he  might, 

Gave  back  the  cloak  like  one  in  haste  to  go ; 
His  face  all  changed,  and  shone  with  heavenly  light, 

And  lighted  hers  with  its  reflective  glow. 
They  tried  to  speak  but  he  had  passed  from  sight 

No  beggar  he  of  those  that  walk  below. 
Great  comfort  had  he  left  their  hearts  within, 
A.n  angel  of  the  Lord  had  with  them  been." 

(Matt.  XXV.  40).— Dr.  R.  F.  Horton. 


NOTHING   BUT   LEAVES 

It  is  probable  that  all  who  think  of  conduct  at  all 
think  of  it  too  much  ;  it  is  certain  we  all  think  too  much 
of  sin.  We  are  not  damned  for  doing  wrong  but  for 
not  doing  right.  Christ  would  never  hear  of  negative 
morality ;  "  thou  shalt  "  was  ever  His  word  with  which 
he  superseded  "  thou  shalt  not."  To  make  our  idea  of 
morality  centre  on  forbidden  acts  is  to  defile  the 
imagination  and  to  introduce  into  our  judgments  of 
our  fellow-men  a  secret  element  of  gusto  (Matt.  xxv. 
45). — R.  L.  Stevenson. 

PILATE'S   HAND-WASHING 

In  that  weirdly  realistic  book  which  Dr.  George  Mac- 
donald  a  few  years  ago  introduced  to  English  readers, 
"  Letters  from  Hell,"  we  read,  in  plain  reference  to  the 
narrative  before  us,  these  words :  "  Groans  broke  upon 
the  silence  about  me.  I  started  and  perceived  a  strange 
figure,  strangely  occupied.  It  was  a  man  of  command- 
ing aspect,  handsome  even,  but  in  most  painful  plight. 

208 


Appendix  III 

He  sat  by  the  river  washing  his  hands,  which  dripped 
with  blood.  But  for  all  his  washing  the  dread  crimson 
would  not  leave  his  fingers ;  as  soon  as  he  lifted  them 
above  the  water  the  red  blood  trickled  down  afresh. 
It  was  a  pitiful  sight.  He  seemed  to  be  aware  of  my 
presence,  for  he  turned  upon  me  suddenly,  saying, 
'  What  is  truth  ?  '  I  did  not  reply  at  once,  feeling  it  to 
be  a  question  that  should  not  be  answered  lightly ;  but, 
raising  his  voice,  he  repeated  impatiently,  *  What  is 
truth  ?  *  *  Well,'  I  said,  '  it  is  a  truth,  and  a  sad  one, 
that  it  is  too  late  now  for  us  to  be  seeking  the  truth.' 
This  answer  did  not  appear  to  satisfy  him  "  (Matt,  xxvii. 
24). — Rev.  T.  Gasquoine,  B.A. 

LOVE'S  "  WASTEFULNESS  " 

Our  God  has  never  been  accustomed  to  do  things  m 
a  beggarly  way,  in  a  mean  and  parsimonious  and  nig- 
gardly and  stingy  way.  He  exhibits  a  magnificence 
that  is  princely.  One  has  indeed  heard  of  sceptics  who 
blamed  Him  for  this  very  matter,  and  said  that  He  should 
have  been  more  careful.  They  asked  us  to  remember 
all  the  force  that  is  wasted  by  the  wind  currents  that 
sweep  across  the  face  of  the  country.  They  asked  us  to 
remember  all  the  energy  that  is  wasted  in  the  cooling  of 
this  earth.  What  if  it  had  been  captured  and  employed 
to  do  some  good  and  useful  work  instead  of  being 
allowed  to  expend  itself  before  it  did  any  good  in  the 
world?  Look  at  the  windmills  that  would  have  been 
driven,  and  look  at  the  furnaces  that  would  have  been 
heated.     To  what  purpose  this  waste  ? 

2og  O 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

Sir  Robert  Ball,  who  is  fond  of  the  big  fact,  enlarges 
upon  the  wastefulness  of  the  sun  when  it  sends  its  light 
and  heat  to  this  earth.  It  is  a  s.trange  story.  He  tells 
us  that  the  sun  is  so  liberal  that  it  could  heat  and  light 
two  thousand  million  globes,  each  one  as  large  as  that 
we  presently  occupy.  There  is,  that  is  to  say,  such  an 
amount  of  solar  radiation  given  off  ewery  hour,  every 
minute,  every  second.  And  yet  I  need  hardly  add,  we 
are  not  able  to  make  use  of  more  than  the  smallest 
fraction  of  it.  Just  suppose  a  man  to  be  left  eight 
million  pounds,  and  of  that  eight  millions  to  spend  a 
penny  wisely,  but  all  the  rest  to  waste  and  throw  away. 
You  would  say  that  of  all  extravagant  people  you  had 
ever  heard  of,  he  was  the  most  spendthrift  and  extrava- 
gant. Well,  he  tells  us — does  Sir  Robert  Ball — he  tells 
us  that  if  eight  million  pounds  worth  of  heat  emanated 
from  the  sun,  we  would  not  be  able  to  secure  and  make 
use  of  on  this  earth  more  than  the  value  of  a  penny. 
There  may  be  other  planets  which  use  it,  of  course,  but 
when  every  allowance  is  made  for  what  they  consume, 
there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  by  far  the  greater  quantity 
of  the  heat  and  light  given  out  by  the  sun  is  wasted.  It 
isn't  needed  in  this  worM,  and  what  becomes  of  it  the 
most  recent  science  has  not  been  able  to  tell.  It  is 
love's  wastefulness,  and  as  in  the  realm  of  Nature,  so  in 
the  realm  of  grace.  God  has  not  spared  Himself 
(Mark  xiv.  4). — Rev.  Frank  Y.  Leggatt,  M.A. 

"AS  A  HEN  GATHERETH    HER  CHICKENS" 

I  have  been  raising  chickens  this  year,  and  I  have 

devoted  a  part  of  my  pear  orchard  to  the  chicken  coops ; 

210 


Appendix  III 

and  I  have  been  accustomed  to  go  out  mornings  and 
evenings  to  see  that  the  boy  took  care  of  the  chickens. 
I  think  I  have  now  about  ten  or  fifteen  broods.  The 
old  hen,  when  watching  them,  would  cluck  ;  and  it  was 
to  them  a  warning  of  danger,  I  suppose.  They  under- 
stand it  to  mean  that  they  are  to  come  in.  I  could  not 
understand  that  language ;  but  these  little  things  that 
had  never  been  to  school  understood  instantly  just  what 
she  said.  She  gave  her  whole  self  to  them,  and  their 
instinct  was  to  run  under  her,  and  when  there  to  lift 
themselves  close  up  to  her  body  and  get  their  warmth 
from  her.  I  have  watched  them  as  they  did  this  again 
and  again.  "  How  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy 
children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens 
under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not !  "  What  an  idea 
of  the  intimate  and  clear  relationship  between  the  soul 
and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  conveyed  in  that  figure  1 
(Luke  xiii.  34). — H.  Ward  Beecher. 

\\       "GOD  SO  LOVED" 

If  God  is  the  great  Giver,  it  is  because  He  is  the  great 
Lover.  The  story  is  told  by  Luther  that  when  his 
translation  of  the  Bible  was  being  printed  in  Germany, 
pieces  of  the  printer's  work  were  allowed  to  fall  care- 
lessly upon  the  floor  of  his  shop.  One  day  the  printer's 
little  daughter  coming  in  picked  up  a  piece  of  paper  on 
which  she  found  just  the  words,  "  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  He  gave  " — the  rest  of  the  sentence  not 
having  yet  been  printed.  It  was  a  veritable  revelation 
to  her,  for  up  to  that  time  she  had  always  been  told 
that  the  Almighty  was  to  be  dreaded,  and  could  only 

2X1  O   2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

be  approached  through  penance.  The  new  hght  thrown 
upon  God's  nature  by  the  scrap  that  had  fallen  into  her 
hands  seemed  to  flood  her  whole  being  with  its  radiance, 
so  that  her  mother  asked  her  the  reason  of  her  joyful- 
ness.  Putting  her  hand  in  her  pocket,  Luther  tells  us, 
the  girl  handed  out  the  little  crumpled  piece  of  paper 
with  the  unfinished  sentence.  Her  mother  read  it,  and 
was  perplexed  :  "  He  gave — what  was  it  He  gave  ?  ' 
For  a  moment  the  child  was  puzzled,  but  only  for  a 
moment;  then,  with  a  quick  intuition,  "  I  don't  know; 
but  if  He  loved  us  well  enough  to  give  us  anything,  we 
need  not  be  afraid  of  Him  "  (John  iii.  i6). — Dr.  J. 
Warschauer. 

A   BURNING   AND    SHINING  LIGHT 

A  good  picture  for  every  pastor's  study  is  the  scene 
at  Newburyport  with  Whitefield,  on  the  last  night  of  his 
life,  *'  weary  in  his  Master's  work,  but  not  of  it,"  stand- 
ing on  the  stairs  of  his  humble  home,  holding  a  light  in 
his  hand  and  talking  to  the  people  till  the  candle  burned 
to  its  socket  and  went  out.  Then  the  old  hero  goes  up 
to  his  chamber.  As  the  light  of  the  morning  breaks, 
the  lamp  of  his  life  goes  out.  There  you  have  your 
burning   and  shining  light   (John  v.  35). — Dr.   C.    L. 

GOODELL. 

THE    LAMENT    OF  JESUS 

I  have  searched  through  literature,  I  have  read  many 
a  touching  and  tender  passage,  I  have  read  the  tear- 
awakening  lament   of  "  In  Memoriam,"   I  have  been 

212 


Appendix  III 

stirred  to  generous  passion  by  the  loving  lines  of  Hood 
over  the  unfortunate  for  whose  life  society  seemed 
responsible,  I  have  listened  to  the  frenzied  w^ail  of 
Hecuba  in  her  abounding  grief,  I  have  seen  the  old 
Greek  hero  dazed  by  the  darkness  and  I  have  heard 
his  cry  for  light ;  but  I  have  never  met  with  pathos  so 
moving  as  the  cry  of  Omnipotence  and  Love,  "  Ye  will 
not  come  to  Me,  that  ye  might  have  life !  "  (John  v.  40), 
— Dr.  W.  Boyd  Carpenter. 

"I    AM    THE    DOOR" 

Dr.  George  Adam  Smith  was  looking  at  a  sheepfold 
on  a  hill  in  Palestine.  And  as  he  was  talking  to  the 
shepherd,  he  noticed  the  hole  in  the  wall  around  the 
fold  through  which  the  sheep  went.  He  looked  about 
for  the  piece  of  wood  that  would  be  used  for  the  door. 
Seeing  none,  he  turned  to  the  shepherd  and  said,  "  Where 
is  the  door."  **  Oh,"  replied  the  shepherd,  "  I  am  the 
door  *'  (John  vii.  9). — H.  Jeffs. 

FLORIST'S  CATALOGUE  AND  FLOWER 

GARDEN 

There  is  the  same  difference  between  theology,  as 
theology,  and  the  facts  of  vital  religion  as  there  is 
between  the  florist's  catalogue  and  the  flower  garden. 
When  Christ  said,  "  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free,"  He  did  not  mean  by  "the 
truth  "  either  Calvinism  or  Arminianism,  Old  Theology 
or  New  Theology,  but  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  the 
freedom  of  the  abounding  life  of  those  who  are  branches 

213 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

of  the  vine.  Read  the  list  of  the  roses  in  the  florist's 
catalogue  —  "  Gloire  de  Dijon,"  *'  Marechal  Niel," 
"  Crimson  Rambler,"  "  General  Jacquemines,"  and  so 
on.  The  names  convey  no  idea  to  those  v;^ho  do  not 
know  the  roses,  though  they  may  conjure  up  pleasant 
recollections  to  the  man  v^ho  is  an  amateur  rose-grower. 
The  names  in  the  catalogue  are  names,  and  the  names 
may  be  attached  to  the  rose-trees  as  labels,  but  there 
is  no  colour  and  no  perfume  in  the  name  and  the  label. 
But  go  to  a  garden  in  the  country  in  June,  what  the 
Germans  call  the  Rosenmonat,  the  Month  of  Roses,  and 
the  garden  is  a  glory  of  crimson,  pink,  white  and  yellow 
roses,  and  the  air  is  aromatic  with  their  fragrance. 
"The  truth  that  makes  us  free"  is  the  life  that  buds 
and  blooms  into  beauty  and  fragrance.  Let  us  never 
imagine  that  any  theology,  however  Old  or  however 
New,  can  take  the  place  of  the  life.  It  may  endeavour 
to  define  the  life,  but  it  is  the  life  itself  we  must  have 
(John  viii.  32). — H.  Jeffs. 

LIVING,    BUT   DEAD 

The  Bible  says,  "  She  that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead 
while  she  liveth."  Just  look  at  a  woman  or  a  girl  who 
liveth  in  pleasure.  Why,  is  not  she  the  very  picture  of 
life?  Her  body  is  so  glowing  with  life  that  her  beauty 
attracts  all  who  see  her ;  her  mental  life  may  also  be  so 
rich  that,  wherever  she  moves  in  the  circles  where  she 
seeks  her  pleasures,  she  is  accompanied  by  a  crowd  who 
admire  her  wit  and  cleverness ;  and  her  emotional  life 
may  be  in  so  healthy  a  condition  that  she  has  a  heart 
rich  in  love  to  give  to  the  happy  man  who  is  able  to  win 

214 


Appendix  li. 

it.     She  seems  to  be  the  very  picture  of  hit.. 

follow  her  into  another  section  of  existence,  \  , 

'''^re 
different  set  of  powers  come  into  operation,  and  tn 

you  will  find  that  she  prays  not,  she  thinks  not  of  God, 

she  neither  loves   nor  serves   Christ,  and   she   is  not 

laying  up  treasure  in  Heaven,  and  she  is  not  prepared 

to  die ;  in  short,  her  spirit,  the  finest  thing  in  man,  the 

true  glory  of  womanhood,  is  dead ;  and  so  the  Scripture 

says,  "She  is  dead  while  she  liveth"  (John   x.  lo). — 

Dr.  J.  Stalker. 

"WE  WOULD   SEE  JESUS" 

In  one  of  his  books.  Archdeacon  Wilson,  lately 
master  of  Clifton  College,  tells  a  significant  story. 
Some  of  the  best  and  ablest  of  the  students  at  a 
women's  college  opened  a  class  for  teaching  the  poorest 
of  the  men  in  a  neglected  suburb.  They  were  fired  by 
the  noblest  impulse — to  give  themselves  to  work  for 
their  unfortunate  brothers.  They  read  to  them,  they 
taught  them  reading  and  writing,  they  sang  to  them, 
and  the  men  gathered  to  them  in  increasing  numbers. 
After  some  months  they  asked  the  men  whether  there 
was  anything  in  particular  that  they  wanted  to  hear 
more  about.  There  was  silence ;  and  then  a  low 
whisper  was  heard  from  among  them.  One  of  the 
women  went  up  to  the  speaker.  "  What  was  it  you 
wished  specially  to  hear  about  ?  "  "  Could  you  tell  us," 
he  replied,  "something  about  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  " 
(John  xii.  ai). — Rev.  D.  M.  Ross,  M.A. 


215 


yi      A    of  Sermon  IIIustrat:on 

of  the  p^E   SHOCK   OF   NEW  TRUTH 

On  the  great  moors  where  I  would  wander  in  the 
summer-time,  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  there  was  one 
plant  whose  roots  sent  down  no  feelers  after  the  eager 
springs  that  make  the  heather  bloom.  It  was  of  rare 
worth  and  beauty  once,  the  shepherds  used  to  say,  but 
the  Fiend  bit  off  the  root  so  that  it  should  never  come 
CO  the  better  and  the  best.  So  we  may  bite  off  the  root 
of  the  fair  flower  of  promise  between  the  door  and  the 
jamb  of  the  heart  when  we  shut  it  in  the  face  of  the 
messengers.  A  new  truth  will  always  shock  us  at  the 
first  impact,  and  the  men  and  women  who  bring  a  new 
message  are  the  angels  of  God  in  human  guise  (John 
xii.  29). — Dr.  Robert  Collyer. 

THE  VANQUISHER  OF  DEATH 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Greek  pla3^s,  the 
"  Alcestis "  of  Euripides,  tells  how  Herakles,  the 
Samson  of  Greek  story,  on  one  of  his  journeys  called 
at  the  palace  of  his  friend  King  Admetus,  who  had  once 
done  him  a  great  service.  He  found  the  king  and 
everybody  in  the  palace  wild  with  grief  because  the 
young  and  lovely  Queen  Alcestis  had  been  taken  away 
by  Death,  who  was  regarded  as  a  mighty  monster,  so 
strong  and  fierce  that  no  man  had  ever  been  able  to 
overcome  him.  Herakles,  however,  who  had  fought 
and  slain  many  monsters,  said  he  was  not  afraid  of 
Death,  and  he  would  go  to  the  tomb  and  grapple  with 
Death,  and  he  would  rescue  the  queen  from  his 
clutches.     He  goes  to  the  tomb  and  grapples  success- 


2l5 


Appendix  III 

fully  with  the  monster,  whom  he  compels  to  give  up  his 
prey.  The  most  beautiful  scene  in  the  play  is  where 
Herakles  stands  with  the  silent  woman  completely 
covered  by  a  white  veil  in  the  presence  of  the  heart- 
broken king.  He  lifts  the  veil  and  there  stands  Alcestis 
smiling  with  the  bloom  of  health  upon  her  cheeks. 
That  is  a  fable ;  but  it  is  no  fable  that  One  stronger 
than  Herakles  has  grappled  with  and  overthrown  Death. 
*'  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life,"  said  Jesus.  **  He 
that  believeth  on  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall 
he  live."  "  O  death,  where  is  ^y  sting  ?  O  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory  ? "  cried  I^aul  (John  xi.  25  ; 
I  Cor.  XV.  55). 

THE  MASTER  CALLETH 

Is  there  anything  that  appeals  to  the  general  heart 
of  man  like  some  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  ? 
Sister  Dora,  after  her  long  day's  work  in  her  Walsall 
hospital  for  waifs  and  strays,  for  poor  souls  beaten  down 
in  the  battle  of  life,  often  went  to  rest  too  tired  to 
sleep.  But  over  her  head  was  a  bell,  to  be  sounded  in 
spite  of  all  her  weariness,  when  any  sufferer  needed 
her.  And  the  bell  bore  this  inscription  :  "  The  Master 
is  come  and  calleth  for  thee."  Is  there  any  heart 
insensible  to  the  appeal  of  such  toil  and  sacrifice  ? 
(John  xi.  28). — Rev.  Bernard  J.  Snell,  M.A. 

.     THE  DIVINE  MOTHER-HEART 

Out  in  Tennessee,  when  it  was  a  very  rough  country 
^t  is  now  one  of  the  most  noble  commonwealths  of 

217 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

the  Union — there  was  an  Indian  band  come  in  upon  a 
settlement,  and  after  murdering  nearly  everybody,  this 
band  snatched  up  the  little  children  and  made  away 
into  the  forest.  There  were  two  or  three  mothers  left, 
and  these  mothers  always  kept  in  their  minds  the 
pictures  of  the  little  children.  Many  a  child  had  been 
lost  in  that  way,  and  lost  at  such  an  early  age  that  it 
was  impossible  in  after  years  to  get  the  child  out  of  the 
wild  habit  it  had  acquired.  Years  went  by,  and  there 
came  one  with  his  band  of  warriors  and  routed  this 
band  of  Indians,  and,  taking  all  of  them  prisoners, 
they  brought  back  with  them  middle-aged  men,  men 
that  had  faces  almost  as  white  as  the  faces  of  the  old 
women  who  looked  for  their  sons  among  them.  One 
woman  who  had  lost  her  boy,  who  had  been  taken 
almost  from  her  breast,  looked  along  the  line  and  found 
him  not.  By-and-by  an  old  man  said  to  her,  "  Is  not 
there  some  melody  you  could  sing  as  you  go  up  and 
down  that  way  ?  "  Then  she  thought  of  a  crooning 
melody  which  sobbed  its  way  out  from  the  dear  old 
soul.  She  pushed  her  grey  hairs  back,  and  the  tears 
were  running  down  her  cheeks  as  her  voice  trembled 
on,  and  all  at  once  a  great  stalwart  man,  that  the  forest 
had  not  entirely  put  back  into  a  barbaric  condition, 
broke  from  the  rest  and  with  a  great  cry  stood  in  the 
presence  of  his  mother.  The  dear  old  soul  was  soon  in 
his  arms.  She  was  singing  still,  and  the  great  savage 
man  wept  on  her  shoulder  and  cried  for  joy.  So  far 
has  Jesus  Christ  come — as  a  hen  gathereth  her  brood — 
carrying  Fatherhood  so  far  that  it  touches  your  heart 
and  mine,  and  when  we  see  Him  doing  a  noble  thing, 

2i8 


Appendix  III 

some  Divine  thing,  all  the  latent  forces  of  the  soul  that 
belong  to  God  rise,  and  we  begin  to  sing  too  (John  xiv.  9). 
— Dr.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus. 

CHRIST'S    LEGACY   OF    PEACE 

There  is  only  one  power  that  can  draw  after  it  all  the 
multitudinous  heaped  waters  of  the  ocean,  and  that  is 
the  quiet  silver  moon  in  the  heavens,  which  pulls  the 
tidal  wave  into  which  merge  all  currents  and  swell 
breakers,  as  it  rolls  around  the  earth.  And  so,  Christ, 
shining  down,  lambent  and  gentle,  but  changeless,  will 
draw  in  one  great  surge  of  harmonised  motion  all  the 
else  contradictory  currents  of  our  stormy  souls.  "  My 
Deace  I  give  unto  you  "  (John  xiv.  27). — Dr.  Maclaren. 

THE   VINE   AND    THE   FRUIT 

I  asked  a  man  the  other  day  which  was  the  most 
important  end  of  a  bough,  the  end  where  the  fruit  hung 
or  the  other  ?  Looking  extremely  wise,  he  said,  "  Of 
course  the  end  where  the  fruit  came."  Do  you  think 
so  ?  Ay,  but  surely  the  important  end  of  the  bough  is 
not  where  the  fruit  hangs,  but  where  it  touches  the 
trunk,  because  if  that  connection  is  unhindered  then 
through  it  the  sap  will  pour,  and  you  may  leave  the 
bunches  of  fruit  to  take  care  of  themselves  if  its  boughs 
only  are  united  and  kept  united  to  the  trunk  (John  xv.  5). 
— Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

"JUST   JESUS    AND    ME" 

I  read  somewhere  that  a  traveller  came  on  a  clearing 
in  the  backwoods  of  one  of  the  Southern  States,  where 

219 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

a  little  hut  stood,  and  a  poor  old  woman,  bent  double 
with  age,  was  gathering  sticks  for  a  fire.  *'  Do  you  live 
here  all  alone,  auntie  ?  "  he  said.  "Yes,  massa,"  she 
replied  ;  "  just  Jesus  and  me."  There  are  some  souls 
to  whom  Christ  is  so  real  that  they  need  none  else 
(John  XV.  14,  15).— Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

THE    HEAVENLY    VISION 

There  is  a  story  told  by  a  soldier  of  the  Civil  War  in 
America,  that,  in  a  critical  pause  in  one  of  the  great 
battles,  a  regiment  to  which  he  belonged  was  lying 
down  in  a  wood,  in  imminent  peril  of  collapse,  when 
suddenly,  in  the  tense  silence,  a  bird  sent  forth  a  joyous 
trill  of  song.  Instantly  the  soldiers  in  their  agony  of 
suspense  thought  of  homes  and  little  ones,  and  all  that 
depended  on  their  remaining  firm  and  immovable  under 
attack,  and  instantly  they  regained  their  confidence, 
and  when  the  rebel  attack  was  renewed  they  invincibly 
sent  it  rolling  back  on  the  foe.  So,  in  the  battle  of 
life,  we  need  a  glimpse  of  Divine  incentives,  of  human 
love,  of  the  ideal  purity  of  holiness,  to  quicken  our 
swooning  hearts,  lest  we  utterly  fail  in  the  hot  and 
teeming  strife  (Acts  xxvi.  19). — Principal  E.  Griffith- 
Jones. 

SAINTSHIP    IN    COMMON    LIFE 

One  bright  Saturday  afternoon,  when  the  river 
Mersey  was  full  of  traffic  and  the  feny  boats  were 
crowded  with  pleasure-seekers,  almost  opposite  my 
study  windows  a  tug  was  hauling  a  great  liner  to  her 

220 


Appendix  III 

berth,  when  the  rope  fouled,  the  liner  quietly  pushed 
the  tug  over,  and  she  disappeared  like  a  pebble  beneath 
the  waves.  It  was  one  of  the  incredible,  unforgettable 
sights  of  a  lifetime — the  way  in  which  men  from 
surrounding  craft  were  in  the  boats  or  in  the  river  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Never  did  squirrel  climb  a 
tree  as  rapidly  as  these  men  leaped  at  the  chance — to 
live  or  die :  what  mattered  it  when  life  was  to  be 
lovingl}^  saved  or  life  to  be  loyally  sacrificed  ?  Hearts 
of  gold,  how  well  we  know  these  men — and  yet  we 
know  them  not  (Rom.  i.  7). — Rev.  C.  F.  Aked,  D.D. 

THE    DYNAMIC   OF   SCRIPTURE 

How  often  even  a  single  phrase  of  Scripture  has 
revolutionised  a  life !  It  would  seem  that  Scripture 
possesses  the  vitalising  power  of  that  elixir  we  read  of 
in  the  mediaeval  romances  of  chivalry,  a  single  drop  of 
which  sufficed  to  draw  from  the  very  jaws  of  death  a 
knight  whose  life  was  escaping  through  a  gaping  wound, 
or  whose  strength  was  all  bespent  with  hardships  and 
hunger.  *'  The  just  shall  live  by  faith," — that  phrase 
flashed  on  the  soul  of  Luther,  and  Luther  sounded  his 
trumpet  against  the  Vatican,  and  the  miracle  of  the 
ramshorns  at  Jericho  was  repeated.  **  Look  unto  Me 
and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth," — that 
phrase,  uttered  by  a  Primitive  Methodist  local  preacher 
in  a  village  chapel,  brought  the  fulness  of  Gospel  light 
to  Charles  Haddc^  3purgeon,  and  who  but  God  knows 
what  blessing  came  to  the  world  through  Spurgeon ! 
(Rom.  i.  17;  Isa.  xlv.  22). — H.  Jeffs. 

221 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

MORE  THAN    CONQUERORS 

The  Indians  say  that  when  a  man  kills  a  foe  the 
strength  of  the  slain  enemy  passes  into  the  victor's 
arm.  In  the  weird  fancy  lies  a  truth.  Each  defeat 
leaves  us  weaker  for  the  next  battle,  but  each  conquest 
makes  us  stronger.  Nothing  makes  a  prison  to  a  human 
life  but  a  defeated,  broken  spirit.  The  bird  in  its  cage 
that  sings  all  the  while  is  not  a  captive.  God  puts  His 
children  in  no  position  in  which  He  does  not  mean 
them  to  live  sweetly  and  victoriously.  So  in  any 
circumstances  we  may  be  "  more  than  conquerors 
through  Him  that  loved  us"  (Rom.  viii.  37). — ^J.  R. 
Miller..' 

WHO   SHALL  SEPARATE? 

On  one  occasion  I  went  to  see  an  Etruscan  tomb  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  It  consisted  of  two 
chambers.  In  the  outer  one  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
were  laid  ;  in  the  inner,  the  articles  which  the  dead  had 
used  and  prized  most  in  life  were  stored  up.  I  noticed 
below  the  roof  of  the  inner  chamber  small  holes  in  the 
wall.  These  were  the  places  in  which  the  nails  had 
been  put  in  order  to  hang  upon  them  some  of  the  most 
precious  and  fragile  things  that  belonged  to  the  dead 
when  living.  The  nails  had  long  ago  fallen  out  and 
rusted  away  into  dust ;  and  when  the  tomb  was  opened 
the  visitor  who  first  entered  it  found  the  floor  strewn 
with  fragments  of  the  beautiful  Etruscan  vases  that  had 
tumbled  to  the  ground.  All  earthly  hopes  and  helps 
are  like  nails  in  the  walls  of  a  tomb.     In  the  course  of 

222 


Appendix  III 

time  they  all  rust  and  fall  out ;  the  air  of  change  and  death 
breathes  upon  them  and  they  perish,  and  the  precious 
things  of  Hfe  that  were  suspended  upon  them  are  broken 
and  destroyed.  The  earth  is  strewn  with  the  wrecks 
of  things  that  have  fallen  from  insecure  earthly 
supports. 

But  we  need  not  fear  for  the  stability  of  the  nail 
upon  which  our  salvation  depends.  All  God's  nails 
hold.  Having  loved  His  own  which  were  in  the  world, 
He  loves  them  to  the  end ;  and  neither  death  nor  life, 
nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  can  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord,  or  from  the  love  of  one  another  in  Him  (Rom. 
viii.  35). — Dr.  Hugh  Macmillan. 

OVERCOME   EVIL  WITH   GOOD 

Mr.  Kay  Robinson,  the  naturalist,  describes  a  com- 
petition witnessed  by  him  in  the  fields.  Owing  to  a 
peculiarity  of  weather  the  poppies  had  managed  to 
get  a  start  of  an  inch  or  so  in  the  matter  of  height  over 
the  wheat  and  barley,  and  the  obnoxious  flowers  were 
just  beginning  to  burst  into  bloom  that  would  have 
converted  the  stunted  grain  into  lakes  of  scarlet,  when 
down  came  the  rain ;  in  a  single  day  and  night  the 
wheat  shot  up  above  the  poppies,  and  for  the  rest  of 
the  season  the  poisonous  things  were  overwhelmed  in 
a  wavy  sea  of  prosperous  green  and  yellow  gold.  A 
similar  competition  is  going  on  between  our  good  and 
bad  qualities ;  it  is  a  rivalry  between  the  wheat  and  the 
tares  as  to  which  shall  get  on  top  and  smother  the 
other.    What  is  the  true  course  to  adopt  whilst  this 

^23 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

struggle  proceeds?  Let  us  concentrate  ourselves  on 
the  corn.  We  overcome  the  evil  in  the  good  (Rom. 
xii.  21.) — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 

GOD'S  USE  OF  WORTHLESS  THINGS 

You  have  heard  the  story  of  the  artist  who  was  build- 
ing a  coloured  window.  As  he  went  on  with  his  work 
he  kept  breaking  bits  of  glass  and  throwing  them  aside. 
His  apprentice,  who  was  with  him,  thought  he  could 
make  tise  of  these  broken  bits.  He  asked  his  master's 
permission,  and  having  got  to  work,  he  made  with  the 
broken  bits  a  more  beautiful  window  than  his  master 
did  with  the  choice  pieces.  And  just  like  that  God  can 
make  use  of  the  refuse  and  broken  bits  of  life.  There  is 
nothing  too  poor  for  God  to  use  ;  there  is  nothing  toe 
weak  and  worthless  for  Him  to  employ  (i  Cor.  i.  27,  28). 
—Rev.  J.  D.  Jones,  M.A.,  B.D. 

EARTHLY    PICTURES    OF   ETERNAL 
REALITIES 

When  we  look  at  the  photograph  of  a  friend,  our 
minds,  while  quite  alive  to  the  merits  or  defects  of  the 
artist's  work,  do  not  rest  upon  what  is  presented  to  our 
eyes.  We  look  through  it,  beyond  it,  to  the  person  it 
represents.  To  anyone  who  is  a  stranger  to  our  friend, 
the  picture  is  simply  a  photograph  and  no  more ;  but  to 
our  gaze  it  brings  before  us  familiar  features  on  which 
we  look  no  more,  it  recalls  happy  fellowships  in  days 
bygone.  We  gaze  upon  it,  yet  as  we  do  so  we  are 
scarcely  thinking  of  it  at  all.     Memory  and  heart  are 

224 


Appendix  III 

busy  with  the  incidents  it  recalls,,  and  our  minds  are 
carried  away  to  the  dear  old  days  when  that  face  was 
the  sunshine  of  the  home.  Similarly  when  a  painter 
places  a  landscape  before  us,  what  woiild  he  think  if  we 
only  saw  certain  effects  of  colour  ?  He  would  have 
failed  of  his  purpose  if  his  canvas  did  not  set  imagina- 
tion astir,  to  wander  over  these  sunlit  slopes,  or  to  sit 
by  the  banks  of  that  limpid  stream,  or  to  follow  the 
progress  of  yonder  shepherd  with  his  flock.  And 
earthly  things  are  a  Divine  picture  in  like  manner  of 
things  heavenly  (i  Cor.  vii.  31). — Dr.  W.  Ross 
Taylor,  D.D. 

THE  LUNACY  OF  DISUNION 

A  visitor  to  one  of  our  county  asylums  was  being 
conducted  over  the  premises  by  the  governor.  On 
going  the  rounds  he  was  forcibly  struck  with  the 
strong  physique  of  many  of  the  men  and  with  the 
comparatively  small  number  of  officials  who  were 
employed  to  maintain  order  and  discipline.  **  What 
would  happen,"  he  asked  the  governor,  "  if  a  revolt 
were  to  break  out  in  the  asylum  and  all  these  strong 
able-bodied  men  were  to  combine  against  the  authority 
of  the  small  number  of  officials  ?  "  "  My  dear  sir," 
replied  the  governor,  **  lunatics  never  combine  " 
(i  Cor.  xii.  14 — 20). — William  Ward. 

FAITH,   HOPE  AND   LOVE 

Faith,  hope  and  love  may  be  likened  to  three  threads 
of  silk :  purple  and  silver  and  gold.     Look  at  these 

225  p 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

and  tell  me  if  you  can  into  how  many  forms  of  fabric 
they  may  be  woven  by  the  cunning  hand  of  the  artificer 
from  the  spools  on  which  they  have  been  wound.  Do 
you  suppose  that  you  can  interpret,  from  looking  at 
them,  what  infinite  combinations  can  be  wrought  out 
of  them  ?  The  artist  brings  his  palette,  and  here  are 
the  red,  the  yellow  and  the  brown,  the  whole  range  of 
colours.  Now  look  at  this  palette,  and  you  may  say, 
"  There  is  the  brown,  there  is  the  yellow,  and  there  is 
the  red,"  but  does  that  give  you  any  conception  of  the 
painting  which  may  be  produced  from  them  by  a  Titian, 
a  Rubens  or  a  Turner  ?  What  infinite  forms  and  tints 
can  come  out  of  that  little  scale  of  colours  !  So  no  man 
can  tell  what  vast  disclosures  and  combinations  and 
developments  shall  come  out  of  these  graces  of  faith 
and  hope  and  love  (i  Cor.  xiii.  13). — H.  Ward 
Beecher. 


VALIANT-FOR-TRUTH  CROSSES  THE  RIVER 

After  this,  it  was  noised  about  that  Mr.  Valiant-for- 
Truth  was  taken  with  a  Summons  by  the  same  Post  as 
the  other,  and  had  this  for  a  Token  that  the  Summons 
was  true — that  his  pitcher  was  broken  at  the  fountain. 
When  he  understood  it,  he  called  for  his  Friends  and 
told  them  of  it.  Then  said  he,  "  I  am  going  to  my 
Father's  ;  and  tho'  with  great  Difficulty  I  am  got  hither, 
yet  now  I  do  not  repent  me  of  all  the  Trouble  I  have 
been  at  to  arrive  where  I  am.  My  Sword  I  give  to  him 
that  shall  succeed  me  in  my  Pilgrimage,  and  my  Courage 
and  Skill  to  him  that  can  get  it.     My  Marks  and  Scars 

226 


Appendix  III 

I  carry  with  me,  to  be  a  witness  for  me  that  I  have 
fought  His  Battles  who  now  will  be  my  rewarder." 

When  the  day  that  he  must  go  hence  was  come, 
many  accompanied  him  to  the  River  Side,  into  which 
as  he  went  he  said.  Death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  And 
as  he  went  down  deeper  he  said,  Grave,  where  is  thy 
victory?  So  he  passed  over  and  all  the  trumpets 
sounded  for  him  on  the  other  side  (i  Cor.  xv.  55). — 
John  Bunyan. 

COULD   NOT   SAY   NO   TO   GOD 

It  so  happened  that  I  heard  the  last  address  which 
was  given  by  a  man  whose  name  is  very  dear  and 
precious  to  many  of  you.  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  of  the 
Clarendon  Street  Church,  of  Boston.  This  was  the 
dying  message  of  Dr.  Gordon  to  the  young  men  of 
Boston,  which  I  believe  he  would  have  me  pass  on  to 
you,  the  young  men  of  London  :  "  Never  say  No  to 
God  !  "  He  said  that,  when  William  Carey  died,  one  of 
his  fellow  ministers  preached  a  funeral  sermon  con- 
cerning him,  in  which  he  made  the  very  singular  state- 
ment that  William  Carey,  though  a  good  man,  had  one 
serious  defect  of  character  :  he  was  an  inconstant  man, 
and  did  not  know  his  own  mind.  "To  think,"  said 
Dr.  Gordon,  with  fine  irony,  "  to  think  of  saying  this  of 
William  Carey  of  all  men,  that  he  was  an  inconstant 
man,  and  did  not  know  his  mind  !  "  But  this  was  the 
way  in  which  this  brother  minister  came  to  that  con- 
clusion. Said  he :  "  Mr.  Carey  himself  acknowledged 
this  defect.  He  said,  *  I  left  the  shoemaker's  bench 
because   I    could   not   say  No;    I   went  to   Kettering 

227  P  2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

because  I  could  not  say  No ;  I  was  ordained  for  mis- 
sionary work  in  India  because  I  could  not  say  No ;  and 
I  engaged  in  the  translation  of  the  Bible  because  I  could 
not  say  No ;  and  all  my  life  long  I  have  been  doing 
things  because  I  could  not  say  No  *  "  (2  Cor.  v.  14). — 
Dr.  F.  E.  Clark. 

THE   NEW   CREATION 

I  have  seen  a  stream  sink  down  into  the  tiniest 
volume,  and  I  have  seen  it  trailing  through  the  mud  in 
disgrace ;  and  then,  far  away  on  the  mountain  range, 
clouds  gathered  and  burst,  and  it  was  not  many  hours 
before  the  stream  came  down  with  the  first  wave  six 
feet  high,  and  the  banks  were  full  of  sweet,  clean, 
rejoicing  water  before  the  evening.  So  did  Christ  come 
in  to  this  poor  human  race,  and  behold  the  veins  have 
swollen  again,  not  with  unclean  blood.  We  can  stand 
and  say  to  the  tempted  man,  Christ  died  on  the  cross 
to  conquer  sin,  and  He  sits  on  God's  right  hand  to 
administer  the  effects  of  His  victory.  And  we  can  tell 
the  chief  of  sinners  through  Christ  he  can  be  made  a 
new  creation  (2  Cor.  v.  17). — Dr.  John  Watson. 

GRACE   ON   THE   SURFACE 

Grace  does  not  go  very  deep  with  most  of  us.  We 
are  not  thawed  out  more  than  an  inch  or  two,  and  down 
below  that  is  the  ice  as  it  is  in  Alaska,  where  the  sun 
never  thaws  out  the  ice  very  far  down,  but  only  to  a 
little  depth  on  the  surface.  We  think  ourselves  to 
be  Christians  because  we  have  a  little  excitable  sym- 
pathy, and  because  we  do  some  good  things ;  but  who 

228 


Appendix  III 

of  us  carries  steadfastly  considerate  thoughtfulness, 
gentleness,  meekness,  and  helpfulness  towards  others  ? 
(Gal.  V.  22,  23). — H.  Ward  Beecher. 

"EXCEEDING   ABUNDANTLY" 

"  You  are  coming  to  a  king, 
Large  petitions  with  you  bring." 

But  the  large  petitions  must  be  winged  with  large 
expectations  or  they  will  rise  no  higher  than  the  roof. 
Dr.  C.  A.  Berry  told  how,  during  a  hard  winter  at 
Wolverhampton,  soup  kitchens  were  opened  for  the 
relief  of  distress.  The  people  brought  their  cans  for 
the  soup.  One  boy  always  took  a  can  that  held  about  a 
couple  of  gallons.  The  quart  of  soup  poured  into  it 
always  looked  such  a  little  in  the  can  that  for  very 
shame  the  dispensers  of  the  soup  poured  into  it  another 
couple  of  quarts  to  make  the  can  look  as  if  there  was 
something  in  it.  When  we  make  our  petitions  to  God, 
let  us  take  large  cans  (Eph.  iii.  20). — H.  Jeffs. 

THE    MINERS'   CLEAN    EYES 

While  in  the  mountains  of  Colorado  I  noticed  the 
miners  going  into  the  mine  at  the  beginning  of  their 
"shifts."  Their  hands  and  faces  were  clean  as  they 
could  make  them ;  but  at  the  end  of  the  "  shifts  "  it 
would  be  difficult  to  tell  whether  they  were  by  nature 
black  or  white,  and  yet  there  was  one  part  of  the  face 
which  was  just  as  clean  as  when  they  entered  the  mine ; 
that  was  the  ball  of  the  eye ;  and  that  not  because  no 
impurities  had  touched  it,  for  the  mine  was  filled  with 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

such,  but  because  there  is  a  little  tear-gland,  which 
keeps  working  all  the  time,  and  when  the  least  speck 
touches  the  eye  it  washes  it  away.  We  are  in  the  midst 
of  sin  and  uncleanness  in  this  world,  but  we  may  be 
kept  clean  every  whit  if  we  be  only  "  filled  with  the 
Spirit"  (Eph.  v.  i8). — Dr.  Chapman. 

HOW  TAULER  BECAME  A  PREACHER 

Tauler,  who  was  almost  contemporary  with  Luther, 
was  one  of  the  greatest  orators  of  his  time,  a  man  deeply 
and  wondrously  eloquent,  and  whenever  he  mounted  his 
pulpit  at  Strasburg  Cathedral  it  was  crowded  with  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  from  the  mayor  downwards. 
And  across  the  hills  of  Switzerland  there  came  Nicholas, 
the  Switzer.     He  sat  amid  the  crowd,  and  found  his 
way  to  Tauler.     He  said  "  I  want  to  confess  to  you." 
**  Certainly,"  said  Tauler.     But  after  the  first  confession 
Tauler   found   that  it  was  he  who  needed  to  confess, 
rather  than  Nicholas.     He  told  Nicholas  that  his  life 
was  a  failure,  that  beneath  the  outward  splendour  of  it 
there  was  a  hungry  heart.     He  had  not  found  the  pivot, 
the  centre  of  rest,  and  he  said,  "  What  must  I  do  ?  " 
"  You   must   die.  Master   Tauler."     "  Die  ?  "  said  he. 
"  Ah,  ah,  you  will  never  get  the  true  source  of  power 
till  you  have  died  to  your  own."     And  for  a  year  the 
pulpit  missed  the  great  preacher,  and  in  his  soul  he  was 
empty  of  all  faith  in  his  eloquence  and  learning,  and 
became  but  a  little  child.     And  again  he  went  back  to 
his  pulpit,  and  the  place  was  crowded  again,  and  five 
minutes  after  he  started  preaching  he  broke  down,  and 
buried  his  face  in  absolute  confusion  ;  and  the  people 

230 


Appendix  III 

as  they  passed  out  disappointed  said,  "  Our  great 
preacher  is  spoiled."  And  then  he  began  simply,  and 
talked  to  the  poor  people  that  gathered  round  him  once 
or  twice  in  the  church,  and  the  fame  of  it  spread,  and 
those  sermons  were  preached  which  Miss  Winkworth 
has  translated  for  us,  and  which  Charles  Kingsley 
wrote  the  introduction  to — sermons  which  the  heart  of 
man  will  never  allow  to  die  until  sin  and  sorrow  have 
fled  away  for  ever.  Don't  you  see  how  sometimes  it  is 
necessary  for  a  man  to  empty  himself,  even  as  Christ 
did,  of  his  reliance  upon  his  native  power,  that  being  as 
a  little  child  he  may  get  power  back  from  God  after 
another  sort  ?  (Phil.  ii.  8,  9). — Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

EXALTATION    THROUGH   ABNEGATION 

Supposing  a  woman,  when  she  is  dying,  calls  her 
eldest  daughter  to  her  side  and  says,  "  You  will  stop 
with  the  children  till  they  are  wed,  and  you  will  see  to 
your  father  ?  "  She  says,  "  Yes,  mother;  I  will."  She 
does  not  know  what  she  is  promising.  Shortly  after, 
love  looks  in  at  the  window  of  her  life  and  says,  "  Will 
you  follow  me,  will  you  wed  me  ?  "  And  she  loves,  and 
her  heart  leaps  out  to  the  love  of  her  life.  "  Will  you 
come  now  ?  "  "I  can't."  "  Make  haste  !  "  "I  can't ; 
I  must  stay  here."  **Then  I  can't  wait."  And  the  love 
fades  away  and  her  heart  dies.  And  she  pursues  her 
path,  a  lonely  woman.  And  the  boys  marry,  and  the 
girls  go  into  homes  of  their  own,  and  the  father  dies, 
blessing  her  for  her  care.  And  in  late  middle  life,  she 
looks  around  upon  other  girls  whom  she  has  known  in 
their  happy  homes  ;  and  often  her  heart  sinks — **  Never 

231 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

for  me !  '*  but  as  she  goes  to  and  fro  amongst  these 
children,  and  the  babes  are  called  by  her  name,  and  the 
little  boy  and  the  young  fellows  grow  up  almost  to 
worship  the  ground  on  which  she  treads,  she  is  the 
queen  of  the  whole  family.  Don't  you  see  that  by  her 
absolute  self-abnegation  for  others  she  has  become 
lifted  to  the  throne,  and  every  knee  bows  to  her,  and 
every  tongue  in  the  family  confesses  that  she  is  sweet 
and  true?  (Phil.  ii.  8,  9).— Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

•'WORK   OUT  YOUR  OWN    SALVATION" 

A  clipper  ship  crossing  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  in 
heavy  weather  strikes  an  iceberg.  She  settles  rapidly 
at  the  bows,  and  her  captain  and  crew  have  barely  time 
to  leap  into  the  lifeboat.  The  question  *'  What  must 
we  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  is  answered  by  their  prompt  leap 
into  the  lifeboat  (committal  of  the  soul  in  trust  to 
Christ),  which  is  an  act  of  faith.  But  after  the  ship 
has  sunk  the  crew  are  still  out  in  the  deep  and 
dangerous  sea.  There  is  a  second  process  necessary. 
In  order  to  keep  out  of  the  trough  of  the  sea  and  to 
reach  the  distant  shore,  they  must  stick  to  the  boat  and 
pull  lustily  at  the  oars.  They  must  **  work  out  their 
own  salvation  "  now  by  hard  rowing.  But  this  is  a 
continued  process  of  salvation  day  after  day,  until  they 
reach  the  shores  of  Nova  Scotia  (Phil.  ii.  12). — 
Dr.  Cuyler. 

DAYS  OF  TRANSFIGURATION 

You  pace  the  seashore  over  the  pale  yellow  innumer- 
able sands,  and  here  and  there  you  see  a  sparkle  as  if 

232 


Appendix  III 

some  sand  grain  were  a  ruby  or  an  emerald ;  you  go  to 
it  and  take  it  up — it  is  no  iridescent  opal,  it  is  no 
spark  of  fire,  it  is  only  one  of  those  pale  yellow  innumer- 
able grains  of  sand;  but  for  one  instant  the  sunbeam 
has  smitten  it,  and  it  has  been  transfigured  in  its 
insignificance  into  living  splendour.  It  is  even  so  some- 
times with  human  lives.  There  comes  a  day  sometimes 
to  the  humble,  if  they  deserve  it,  when,  as  to  the  humble 
shepherds  on  Bethlehem's  plain,  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
stands  over  them,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shines 
round  about  them;  they  leap  into  instantaneous 
heroism,  they  are  transfigured  into  children  of  immor- 
tality; they  need  no  sceptre  and  no  purple  then  to 
invest  them  with  the  grandeur  and  the  pathos  of  truth. 
It  is  an  unknown  Eastern  monk  who  springs  into  the 
arena  and  thrusts  himself  between  the  gladiators ;  he  is 
martyred ;  the  gladiatorial  games  cease  for  ever,  and 
Telemachus  has  bought  his  eternity  with  a  little  hour. 
It  is  a  poor  Russian  slave ;  on  the  track  of  his  master 
and  children  the  wolves  are  howling  in  the  snow  ;  he 
springs  out  among  the  yelling  pack  and  is  torn  to  pieces ; 
but  his  master  and  children  are  saved,  and  his  deed 
thrills  through  the  world.  It  is  a  very  humble,  ungifted 
Belgian  priest  who  goes  to  die,  a  leper,  among  the 
hopeless  lepers  of  the  Pacific  isle,  and  the  world  cares 
more  for  him  than  it  cares  for  emperors.  It  is  a  pilot  on 
Lake  Erie  in  the  burning  ship  who  clings  to  the  tiller, 
and  safely  steers  to  the  jetty,  though  he  drops  a 
blackened  corpse ;  he  knows  that  Christ  will  not  turn 
His  back  on  a  man  who  died  for  men.  It  is  a  poor  little 
maid-of-all-work ;  the  house  is  in  flames,  the  rooms  are 

233 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

filled  with  blinding  smoke,  but  at  all  costs  she  will  save 
the  last  of  her  master's  children ;  she  does  save  the 
child,  and  is  killed,  and  the  poor  East-end  *' slavey" 
has  laid  on  the  haughty  palace  gate  of  humanity  a 
service  and  an  example  worth  cartloads  of  diamonds, 
and  the  lives  of  thousands  of  selfish  or  arrogant  grandees 
(Phil.  ii.  17).— Dean  Farrar. 

FLOWERS  OR  WEEDS  ? 

I  remember  how,  when  the  Great  Central  Railway 
made  their  trunk  line  through  the  Rugby  district,  they 
had  to  carve  their  way  through  a  solid  fold  in  the 
country.  It  was  said  to  be  the  biggest  cutting  on  the 
line.  I  watched  carefully  the  banks  of  that  cutting  and 
the  earth  heaps  that  were  thrown  up.  At  first,  they  were 
as  bare  as  could  be,  but  presently  here  and  there  the 
seed  of  a  thistle  or  a  dandelion  or  a  knotweed  would 
find  a  lodgment,  and,  before  many  months  elapsed,  the 
whole  space  was  overspread  with  flowers  and  grasses 
and  herbs.  There  was  no  emptiness.  Before  one  could 
well  believe  it,  the  bare  banks  were  covered  with  young 
seedlings  that  had  drifted  against  it  by  chance  on  the 
wings  of  the  breeze.  The  human  mmd  is  like  that  cut- 
ting. It  cannot  remain  unpossessed.  It  is  always 
receiving,  never  empty  (Phil.  iv.  8.) — J.  Lew^is  Paton, 
M.A. 

"THROUGH     CHRIST     WHICH 
STRENGTHENETH    ME" 

I  crossed  the  ocean  lately  on  a  powerful  steamship, 
which  weighed  over  twenty  thousand  tons,  and  pushed 

234 


Appendix  III 

her  way  against  winds  and  waves  at  the  rate  of  twenty 
knots  an  hour.  I  could  not  see  the  propelling  force  : 
that  was  hidden  deep  down  in  the  glowing  furnaces, 
heaped  constantly  with  fresh  coal.  As  long  as  the  coal 
lasted  the  steamer  could  hold  on  her  victorious  way. 
That  illustrates  the  spiritual  life  of  every  strong,  healthy 
Christian.  His  strength  is  measured  by  his  inward 
supply  of  Divine  grace  (Phil.  iv.  13). — Dr.  Cuyler. 

THE  FRUITFUL  LIFE 

We  are  told  of  a  man  who  served  and  blessed 
humanity  by  drifting  down  a  great  river  in  a  virgin 
country  in  a  boat  filled  with  apple-seeds.  His  plan  was 
to  go  in  advance  of  the  settlers,  planting  orchards  m  the 
wilderness.  When  he  had  found  an  open  glade  in  the 
forest,  he  dug  up  the  soil,  planted  several  thousand 
apple-seeds,  wove  a  brush  fence  to  keep  the  deer  away, 
then  drifted  down  the  river  to  repeat  his  work  in  another 
Dpen  glade.  When  the  early  settlers  came  to  these 
open  glades  they  found  the  fruit  trees  that  to  them 
seemed  to  have  been  let  down  from  God  out  of 
Heaven. 

If  we  cannot  plant  a  tree  we  can  plant  a  flower. 
Everything  beautiful  is  like  a  blessing  let  down  by  God 
from  Heaven.  The  more  beautiful  and  fruitful  we  can 
make  the  earth  the  more  we  shall  see  of  God.  He  steps 
down  from  the  stars  and  meets  us  among  the  flowers 
(Col.  i.  10). — Dr.  J.  M.  Farrar,  Brooklyn,  U.S.A 


235 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

HID  WITH  CHRIST  IN  GOD 

"  Our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  It  is  the 
passionate  and  unceasing  insistence  on  the  Christ- 
nature  within  every  man  as  such  which  gave  dignity 
and  power  to  the  preaching  of  the  early  Quakers.  Read 
George  Fox's  journal,  and  this  emerges  out  of  an 
astonishing  amount  of  fanaticism  and  unfairness.  It 
runs  like  a  thread  of  gold  through  the  whole  narrative. 
On  all  hands  religious  men  were  disputing  about  the 
limits  of  Church  membership,  the  rights  of  hierarchies, 
the  importance  of  sacraments,  the  decrees  of  God  in 
election  and  reprobation,  and  so  forth  ;  and  there  was 
immense  excitement  and  vehemence  and  partisanship ; 
Cui'iztianity  seemed  to  have  lost  its  moral  force  alto- 
gether ;  and  the  Image  of  Christ  had  faded  from  view. 
Then  came  this  strange,  youthful-looking  man,  with 
his  long  hair  and  brilliant  eyes,  and  courage  of  a  martyr 
blended  witii  an  extraordinary  tenderness,  and  a  fervent 
eloquence  wl  ich  held  men  spell-bound  and  called  them 
away  from  the  quarrelling  Christians  and  their  churches, 
and  pointed  them  to  Christ  within  themselves.  This 
is  his  habitual  phrase.  "  I  directed  them  to  the  light  of 
Christ  in  them."  '*  I  exhorted  the  family  to  turn  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  hearken  to  His  teachings  in 
their  own  hearts."  "I  directed  them  to  Christ,  the 
true  Teacher  within  "  (Col.  iii.  3). — Canon  Hensley 
Henson. 

GOOD  SOLDIERS  OF  CHRIST 

At  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge  a  regiment  made  a 
desperate  attack  upon  the  enemy.     "Who  ordered  that 

236 


Appendix  III 

charge  ?  "  cried  the  commanding  general  of  an  officer 
who  galloped  up  to  him.  "  No  one,  sir,"  was  the 
response  ;  **  the  men  saw  the  need  and  the  opportunity, 
and  they  dashed  forward  without  waiting  for  orders." 
The  world  wants  thousands  of  Christian  warriors  thus 
to  see  *'  the  need  and  the  opportunity,"  and  to  act 
promptly  !  Many  of  us  are  slow  of  heart  and  blind 
(2  Tim.  ii.  3). — Rev.  Allan  Sutherland. 


MINISTERING   ANGELS 

I  went  once  to  see  a  dying  girl  whom  the  world  had 
roughly  treated.  She  never  had  a  father,  she  never 
knew  her  mother.  Her  home  had  been  the  poorhouse, 
her  couch  the  hospital  cot,  and  yet,  as  she  staggered 
in  her  weakness  there,  she  picked  up  a  little  of  the 
alphabet,  enough  to  spell  out  the  New  Testament,  and 
she  had  touched  the  hem  of  the  Master's  garment  and 
had  learned  the  new  song.  And  I  never  trembled  in 
the  presence  of  majesty  as  I  did  in  the  majesty  of  her 
presence  as  she  came  near  the  crossing.  **  Oh,  sir,"  she 
said,  "  God  sends  His  angels.  I  read  in  His  Word : 
*  Are  they  not  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister 
to  them  who  shall  be  the  heirs  of  salvation  ?  '  And 
when  I  am  lying  in  my  cot  they  stand  about  me  on  this 
floor,  and  when  the  heavy  darkness  comes  and  this  poor 
side  aches  so  severely  He  comes,  and  He  says,  *  Lo,  I 
am  with  you,'  and  I  sleep,  I  rest "  (Heb.  i.  14). — 
Bishop  C.  H.  Fgv^^ler. 


237 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

SAVED    BY   ANOTHER'S   SUFFERING 

The  mother  who  has  tried  talking,  and  talking  has 
not  done  any  good,  who  has  tried  serene  living,  and 
serene  living  has  not  done  much,  until  at  last  the  evil 
of  her  son  enters  like  the  iron  into  her  soul,  and  she, 
alone  in  her  closet,  agonises  and  weeps  and  prays,  and 
thinks  she  is  not  doing  anything,  now  first  is  beginning 
to  do  something.  For,  though  her  boy  never  sees  the 
tear  glistening  on  her  cheek,  and  never  hears  the  prayer 
that  goes  up  from  her  agonised  heart,  he  knows  the 
difference,  and  he  begins  to  feel  only  when  she  has 
begun  to  suffer  with  him,  and  for  him,  and  in  him 
(Heb.  ii.  g — 13). — Dr.  Lyman  Abbott. 

THE  LORD'S    CHASTENINGS 

When  I  was  in  Kimberley  I  was  taken  to  the  great 
diamond  mine  there,  and  saw  first  the  blasting  of  the 
rocks;  then  that  they  took  those  rocks  and  laid  them 
out  under  the  sky  to  be  desiccated.  And  after  six 
months  these  rocks,  full  of  diamonds,  were  placed  in 
mighty  crushing  machines,  driven  by  an  engine  of  1,000 
horse-power.  This  grinding  process  was  intended  to 
rub  down  the  rocks  till  they  became  dust.  Out  of  the 
dust  diamonds  were  caught  on  the  grease  of  the 
pulsating  machine,  whereas  the  garnets  passed  on  and 
were  lost.  God  grinds  us  to  the  very  dust,  because  it  is 
only  out  of  the  dust  He  gets  His  diamonds.  Out  of 
the  dust  He  can  mould  and  fashion  us  (Heb.  xii.  6), — 
Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  B.A. 

238 


Appendix  III 

WORKS  WITH    FAITH 

I  can  imagine  a  listless,  indolent  person  sitting  within 
reach  of  a  tumbler  of  water,  and  saying  to  the  servant, 
"  Hand  me  that  tumbler  of  water  " ;  and  I  can  imagine 
someone  giving  the  answer,  "  It  is  within  your  reach, 
take  it  if  you  want  it.  If  it  is  not  worth  taking,  it  is 
not  worth  having."  There  are  many  people  who  pray 
to  God  for  things  that  are  within  their  reach.  All  that 
is  necessary  is  that  they  should  find  out  how  to  procure 
them.  There  are  some  people  who  want  their  prayers 
answered  at  a  jump,  just  as  when  we  go  to  a  post-office 
for  our  letters  they  are  handed  right  out  to  us;  or  just 
as  when  we  go  to  the  bank  with  a  cheque  we  receive  the 
cash  instantly.  Oftentimes,  however,  God  answers 
more  through  discipline  (James  ii.  14). — H.  Ward 
Beecher. 

THE    UNRULY  MEMBER 

There  are  some  lines,  crude  and  homely  enough,  but 
sensible  enough,  written  by  Mr.  Will  Carleton,  the 
American,  which  I  am  very  fond  of  recalling : — 

"  Boys  flying  kites  haul  in  their  white-winged  birds  ; 
You  can't  do  that  way  when  you  are  flying  words. 
'  Careful  with  '  is  good  advice,  I  know  ; 
*  Careful  with  words'  is  ten  times  doubly  so. 
Thoughts  unexpressed  may  sometimes  fall  back  dead  ; 
But  God  Himself  can't  kill  them  when  they're  said." 

Oh  1  young  men  and  women,  learn  to  hold  the  tongue. 
You  may  do  injustice  by  a  thoughtless  word  to  some- 
one that  you  will  be  sorry  for  all  your  days  (James  iii. 
5,  6). — Rev.  C.  Silvester  Horne,  M.A. 

239 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

GROWTH    IN    GRACE 

People  think  that  if  they  are  going  to  have  the 
graces  of  the  Spirit  they  must  pray  and  pray  for  them, 
and  that  somehow  God  will  put  them  on  them  ;  as  if  a 
daughter  should  say  to  her  mother,  "  Oh,  mother  !  that 
scarlet  shawl,"  and  the  mother  should  come  to  her 
some  day  and  say,  "  My  daughter,  for  a  good  while  you 
have  been  asking  me  for  a  scarlet  shawl,  and  here  it  is." 
Persons  go  on  praying  to  God  for  various  Christian 
states  of  mind,  and  they  have  an  idea  that  some  day  He 
will  touch  them  and  they  will  have  them ;  whereas  all 
high  religious  states  are  the  result  of  education,  just  as 
a  knowledge  of  music,  or  painting,  or  history,  or 
philosophy,  or  science  is  (2  Peter  iii.  18). — H.  Ward 
Beecher. 

THE  GRACE   OF   OUR   LORD 

What  is  "  grace  "  ?  It  is  several  things.  First,  the 
kindness  of  an  exalted  person  to  those  below  him.  We 
sing  "  God  save  our  gracious  King."  Then  grace  is  a 
gift,  a  favour,  a  pardon,  granted  as  an  act  of  pure 
benevolence.  The  King,  as  an  "  act  of  grace,"  allows 
gentlefolk  in  poor  circumstances  to  occupy  rooms  in 
some  of  the  royal  palaces.  As  an  "  act  of  grace,"  too, 
he  may  remit  or  cancel  a  sentence  passed  by  a  judge. 
Then  "  grace  "  means  beauty,  elegance :  as  a  **  grace- 
ful "  person.  Queen  Alexandra  is  both  '*  gracious  "  and 
"  graceful."  All  these  meanings,  and  much  more,  are 
implied  in  "  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."     Let 

240 


Appendix  III 

I* 

us  think  for  a  moment,  however,  of  His  grace  as  His 

beauty.  We  are  reminded  of  Psalm  xxvii.,  and  the 
Psalmist's  desire  ''  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord," 
and  of  the  invocation  of  Psalm  xc. :  "  Let  the  beauty 
of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon  us."  The  "  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ"  does  come  upon  those  who  are 
His  in  a  very  peal  sense.  Old  couples  who  have  lived 
long  together  in  perfect  affection  are  said  to  grow  like 
each  other.  Old  saints  who  have  long  lived  in  com- 
munion and  love  with  Christ  grow  hke  Him.  There 
is  an  unearthly  beauty  in  the  faces  of  these  people  in 
moments  of  rapt  devotion.  Some  day  they  will  be 
fully  "like  Him,  for  they  will  see  Him  as  He  is" 
(i  Cor.  xvi.  23 ;  i  John  iii.  2). 


THE    LOVELESS   LIFE   AND    THE    LIFE  IN 

GOD 

It  is  told  of  the  Greeley  expedition  to  the  Arctic 
regions,  in  search  of  the  North  Pole,  that  the  weary 
months  of  waiting  for  their  rescuers  told  on  the  men  in 
a  fearful  manner.  Some  died  from  starvation  ;  others 
were  almost  crazed  by  the  hunger  experienced  and  the 
intense  cold ;  others  were  driven  to  the  realm  of  deceit 
and  cruelty ;  and  Greeley  himself  was  in  a  struggle  to 
keep  up  his  courage  and  fortitude.  At  last  the  rescuers 
arrived ;  but  the  group  of  men  were  so  dazed  by  their 
cold,  desolate  surroundings  that  they  scarcely  realised 
what  it  meant.  They  were  led  away  from  the  Arctic 
night  to  the  land  of  sunshine  and  plenty,  where  no  cold 
could  freeze  their  bodies  nor  lack  of  food  bring  them 

241  Q 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

starvation.      Day  and  night  would  come  and  go  and 
the  world  look  new,  bright  and  joyful. 

Man,  without  the  ideal  of  right  living  which  Christ 
gives,  is  in  the  grip  of  moral  starvation  and  in  the  realm 
of  spiritual  cold.  He  needs  to  be  rescued  and  led  away 
from  this  condition  to  the  region  of  life  and  joy.  He 
needs  the  sunshine  of  God's  love  and  tenderness  to 
warm  his  heart  and  beautify  his  soul  (i  John  iv.  7,  8). 
—  Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt. 


THE    HEART'S   CRY   OF    LOVE 

How  common,  how  persuasive,  is  this  love-life,  even 
in  its  first  realm,  the  love  of  kindred!  I  was  once 
summoned  to  the  poor  little  home  of  a  labouring  man. 
The  doctor  had  just  left  with  his  fatal  verdict :  "  Nothing 
more  can  be  done."  On  an  impoverished  cot  in  the 
cleanly  kitchen,  the  only  room  with  light  and  air,  lay  a 
beautiful  boy  of  eighteen  months.  The  young  father 
was  pacing  the  room  in  a  man's  mute  agony.  The 
mother  kneeled  by  the  poor  little  cot  and  smoothed  the 
coverlet  with  her  work-roughened  hands,  and  touched 
gently  the  fair  face  already  sharpening  to  the  stillness 
of  death.  Her  breaking  heart  burst  out  in  a  terrible 
cry  :  "  Oh,  my  love,  my  little  one,  how  can  I  live 
without  you ! " 

Not  long  after  I  was  called  to  a  palatial  home.  I 
entered  a  sumptuous  apartment.  Trained  nurses  sat 
with  folded  hands  in  an  adjoining  room,  their  work 
over.     A   council  of  eminent  physicians  had  just  left 

242 


Appendix  III 

the  house.  The  fatal  word  had  been  spoken  :  "  Nothing 
can  be  done  ;  it  is  a  question  of  only  an  hour,  possibly 
less."  There  again  was  the  father  pacing  in  a  man's 
mute  agony.  There  again  the  mother  kneeled  by  the 
dainty  couch,  touching  aimlessly  with  her  delicate 
shapely  hands  the  coverlet,  or  lifting  the  masses  of 
bright  hair  tossed  upon  the  pillow.  There  again  lay 
the  beautiful  child,  the  flower-like  face  touched  with 
that  appealing  pathos,  which  is  only  seen  upon  the  face 
of  a  dying  child.  Again  the  heart-breaking  cry,  "  Oh, 
my  beauty,  my  blessing,  my  life !  Why  cannot  I  die 
for  you  ?  '* 

Explorers  opened  an  Egyptian  tomb,  a  tomb  shut 
hard  and  fast  by  the  iron  silence  of  three  thousand 
years.  There  stood  the  exquisitely  carved  sarcophagus 
of  a  little  child,  and  over  it  this  inscription:  "  Oh,  my 
life,  my  love,  my  little  one  !  Would  God  I  had  died  for 
thee!"  Instinctively  the  men  uncovered  their  heads, 
and  with  dim  eyes  stepped  silently  out  into  the  light. 
They  replaced  and  sealed  the  portal  and  left  love  and 
death  to  their  eternal  vigil.  How  old  is  love  ?  Old  as 
the  human  heart,  old  as  God ;  "  for  God  is  love,  and 
he  who  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God " 
(i  John  iv.  8). — Dr.  J.  H.  Ecob. 


THE  CHRIST   WITHIN 

Olive  Malvery  has  told  us  how  that  once,  when  she 
was  living  the  life  of  the  women  in  the  East-end,  she  had 
worked  and  walked  for  a  whole  day  without  being  able 

243  Q2 


The  Art  of  Sermon  Illustration 

to  earn  enough  money  to  get  a  bed ;  the  very  little  she 
had  she  spent  on  food ;  and  then  she  wandered  along 
and  at  last  found  herself  on  the  Embankment,  and 
sank  down  on  to  one  of  the  benches,  wearied,  exhausted, 
depressed,  bitter  in  spirit,  and,  with  the  weight  of  it  all 
upon  her  sensitive  heart,  buried  her  face  in  her  hands 
and  was  weeping. 

And  by  chance  there  came  her  way  a  poor,  ragged, 
outcast  woman,  who  had  loved  the  garish  day,  and  had 
had  her  garish  day;  but  upon  that  day  a  night  had 
fallen,  and  she  was  abandoned,  homeless,  friendless, 
hopeless,  penniless,  save  for  a  solitary  halfpenny  which 
she  clutched  in  her  hand,  and  was  about  to  spend  at  a 
coffee-stall.  She  saw  the  tiny  slip  of  a  young  girl  cry- 
ing on  the  bench,  and  came  up  to  her,  bent  over  her, 
put  her  hand  on  her  shoulder,  and  said,  "  Never  mind, 
dearie,  you  will  soon  get  used  to  it." 

Olive  Malvery  looked  up  at  her  through  her  tearful 
eyes ;  and,  less  because  of  her  sorrow  than  because  of 
her  wonder  at  this  woman's  tenderness  and  compassion, 
could  not  speak  a  word.  The  woman  hesitated  an 
instant,  and  then  pressed  into  the  hand  of  this  chance- 
met  fellow-sufferer  the  only  coin  she  had,  and  dis- 
appeared swiftly  into  the  night.  Christ  was  there, 
present  in  that  wretched,  pleasure-ruined  woman ;  we 
know  Him  by  that  sign ;  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  light  and 
love ;  who  shines  in  the  highest,  but  is  not  absent  from 
the  lowest,  but  glints  there  also  as  the  gold  among  the 
heavy  dust  (i  John  iv.  i6).— Rev.  E.  W.  Lewis, 
M.A.,  B.D. 


244 


Appendix  IL 

LONDON    FLOWERS    ^^ 

Some  time  a^o  there  was  a  flower  show  m  Loi  r. 
and  the  singularity  was  that  all  the  flowers  were  grow . 
in  London.  It  is  not  much  for  you  to  grow  flowers 
in  the  country,  in  your  blue  skies,  your  sweet  air,  your 
bright  light,  and  your  silver  dew.  It  is  nothing  to  you  to 
rear  magnificent  blossoms  and  perfect  forms  of  elegance 
and  of  colour.  But  think  of  growing  prize  lilies  and 
roses  and  orchids  and  palms  on  narrow  window-sills, 
and  in  dingy  cellars,  and  in  dusty  attics,  and  amongst 
chimney-pots !  Ah !  there  was  a  pathos  about  those 
flowers  that  can  never  be  about  the  flowers  grown  here 
in  the  country  under  blue  skies.  No  wonder  the  Queen 
went  to  see  those  flowers.  They  had  been  reared  in 
defiance  of  the  breath  of  the  million,  the  smoke  of  a 
myriad  chimneys,  dust,  shade,  darkness ;  and  they  had 
brought  those  things  of  beauty  to  perfection  amidst 
those  discouraging  conditions.  And  just  so,  when  John 
went  to  Heaven,  the  Elder  did  not  show  him  angels 
and  principalities  and  powers — they  have  all  been 
grown  in  the  everlasting  sunshine.  No  wonder  that 
they  are  what  they  are.  But  the  Elder  was  proud  to 
show  John  the  blossoms  that  had  been  grown  down 
here  amongst  trouble  and  conflict  and  coffins.  "  These 
are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation  "  (Rev.  vii.. 
14). — Dr.  W.  L.  Watkinson. 


245 


The  Art  ^x  Sermon  Illustration 

to  earn  enou^-j^^j^  ^^^^^  ^^  CRYSTAL 

had  she  sv 

and  at^ast  week  one  of  the  members  of  this  church,  a 
san^and  old  woman,  who  had  suffered  through  weeks 
rx  irremediable  pain,  which  prevented  sleep  and  even 
rest,  passed  into  the  rest,  the  sleep  of  death.  A  few 
days  before  she  died,  one  of  our  members  visited  her, 
and,  seeing  that  she  was  in  a  doze,  sat  down  to  wait. 
And  presently  a  smile  played  over  the  worn  face  of  the 
sick  woman,  a  smile  which  became  quite  radiant,  and 
then  with  a  start  she  awoke,  and  she  said,  **  Was  I 
dreaming  ?  "  "  You  seemed  asleep,"  was  the  answer, 
"and  you  smiled."  "Ah!*'  she  said;  "I  saw  Jesus  and 
the  river  as  clear  as  crystal.  Oh !  it  was  beautiful ! 
beautifull"  (Rev.  xxii.  2). — Dr.  R.  F.  Horton. 

"IN   THE   MORNING" 

In  one  of  his  sermons  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell  told  of 
a  father  who  every  night  went  to  the  bedroom  of  his 
little  daughter  to  wish  her  "  Good-night!"  She  usually, 
as  she  returned  his  kiss,  said,  "  Good-night,  father 
dear !  I  shall  see  you  in  the  morning."  The  child  fell 
ill,  and  it  became  evident  that  the  Master  was  calling 
for  her.  One  night  her  father  kissed  her  as  usual,  and 
she  said  in  a  faint  voice,  but  with  a  smile  on  her  wan 
face,  "  Good-night,  father!  I  shall  see  you  in  the  morn- 
ing." During  the  night  the  Shepherd  took  the  lamb 
unto  His  bosom.  But  her  word  was  true.  There  is 
reunion  where  "there  is  no  night  there"  and  *'joy 
Cometh  in  the  morning"  (Rev.  xxii.  5;  Ps.  xxx.  5). 

246 


Appendix  III 

HEAVEN  SEEN  FROM  EARTH 

On  a  cold,  windy  day  in  November,  a  gentleman 
spoke  kindly  to  a  poor  Italian  whom  he  had  often 
passed  without  a  word.  Seeing  him  shiver,  he  said 
something  about  the  dreadful  English  climate,  which 
to  a  son  of  the  sunny  South  must  have  seemed  terribly 
cruel  that  day.  But  to  his  surprise  the  man  looked  up 
with  a  smile,  and  in  his  broken  English  said,  "  Yes,  yes, 
pritty  cold ;  but  by-and-by  !  tink  of  dat."  He  was 
thinking  of  warm  skies  and  flowers  and  songs  in  the 
sunny  land  to  which  he  hoped  soon  to  return,  and  he 
little  imagined  how  all  that  day  and  for  many  a  day  his 
words  would  ring  in  the  Englishman's  heart ;  "  By-and- 
by,  tink  of  dat." 

"  Oh,  could  we  make  our  doubts  remove, 
Those  gloomy  doubts  that  rise. 
And  see  the  Canaan  that  we  love 
With  unbeclouded  eyes. 

•*  Could  we  but  stand  where  Moses  stood, 
And  view  the  landscape  o'er, 
Not  Jordan's  stream  nor  death's  cold  flood 
Should  fright  us  from  the  shore." 

(Rev.  xxi.  lo). — Dr.  Alfred  Rowland. 


247 


INDEX    OF    TEXTS    AND 
SUBJECTS    ILLUSTRATED 


In  the  following  Index,  enough  of  the  verses  is  given  to 
indicate  the  verse  or  verses  illustrated.  Where  two  texts  are 
illustrated  by  the  same  illustration,  both  are  given,  one  following 
the  other.  A  very  few  illustrations  could  not  conveniently  be 
attached  to  texts.  In  a  few  other  cases  where  a  passage  of 
Scripture  or  a  subject  is  illustrated,  the  chapter  and  verses  of  the 
books  given  are  to  be  regarded  as  readings  rather  than  texts. 


Genesis  iii.  ... 


f> 


IV.  13 


I)  V.  ^...  ... 

„       xxxii.  26    ... 

Exodus  XX.  S 

Numbers  xxiii.  23  ... 
Judges  v.  8,  9 
I  Samuel  iL  11 


1  Kings  vii.  21,  22  ... 

„       xiv.  13 
„       xviii.  17 

2  Chronicles  xxv.  9... 

,,  xxix.  27 

Nehemiah  vi.  15    ... 

M  viii.  6    ... 


The  awakening  of  conscience, 
Romans  vii.  21 — 24. — The  law  of 
God  and  the  law  of  members  . 

The  punishment  greater  than  I  can 
bear 

And  he  died        .... 

I  will  not  let  Thee  go,  except  Thou 
bless  me 

Remember  the  Sabbath  day 

Honour  thy  father  and  mother  . 

What  hath  God  wrought !  . 

Offered  willingly  among  the  people 

The  child  did  minister  unto  the  Lord 
Matt.  xix.  13 — 15. — There  were 
brought  unto  Him  little  children 

Lily  work  on  the  pillars 

Abijah  at  Jeroboam's  court 

Art  thou  he  that  troublest  Israel? 

The  Lord's  ability  to  give  . 

The  burnt-offering  and  the  song 

So  the  wall  was  finished 

The  people  an^^wered,  Amen,  amen  ! 


PAGE 


92 

n 

i8s 

186 
120 
186 
186 
127 


176 

30 

131 
62 

113 

69 

187 

ISO 


249 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects 


Job  xxiv.  6   ... 

•  •• 

Psalm 

xviii.  33 

•  •• 

j> 

xxiii.  I 

... 

>> 

xxiii.  3 

... 

» 

xxvii.  I 

... 

n 

xxvii.  14 

... 

»j 

xxix.   2 

... 

» 

xxx.  5 

... 

>» 

xxxiv.  8 

... 

» 

xxxvii.  7 

•  •• 

»f 

xxxviii.  4 

•  •• 

)) 

xl.  2   ... 

»> 

xlii.  5 

... 

j> 

li.  10... 

•  •• 

»> 

li.  II,  12 

•  •• 

>j 

Ixvi.  13 

•  •• 

j» 

Ixxviii.  9 

•  •• 

jj 

Ixxviii.  13 

... 

»» 

Ixxxiv.  3 

•  •• 

)i 

xc.  9  ... 

... 

» 

xc.  12 

... 

'» 

xc.  13,  14 

... 

»» 

cxvi.  12,  13 

... 

» 

cxviii.  27 

... 

j» 

cxix.  14 

... 

» 

cxix.  18 

•  •  • 

>» 

cxix.  105 

•  •  • 

» 

cxxxiii.  I 

... 

Proverbs  viii.  36 

... 

»        X.  7 

•  •• 

„        xxii.  13 

.*• 

Ecclesiastes  ii.  9, 

10 

„         ix.  10 

... 

M        ix.  14 

,15 

PAGE 

The  vintage  of  the  wicked  .  ,  .14 
He  maketh  my  feet  like  hinds'  feet  .  188 
The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd  .  .  .188 
He  restore th  my  soul .  .  .  .191 
The  Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life  .  189 
Be  of  good  courage  .  .  .  .116 
Worship  the  Lord  ....  90 
Joy  Cometh  in  the  morning  ,  .  246 
Taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good  .  189 
Rest  in  the  Lord  and  wait  patiently  for 

Him         .... 
Iniquities  gone  over  mine  head 
Out  of  an  horrible  pit . 

Hope  thou  in  God 
Create  in  me  a  clean  heart 

Restore  the  joy  of  Thy  salvation 

I  will  pay  Thee  my  vows     . 

Carrying  bows  but  turning  back 

Divided  the  sea,  and  caused  them  to 
pass  through    .... 

A  nest  at  God's  altars 

Our  years  as  a  tale  that  is  told  . 

Teach  us  to  number  our  days     . 

Fruit  in  old  age  .... 

I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation  . 

Bind  the  sacrifice 

Rejoice  in  Thy  testimonies  as  in  riche 

Open  Thou  mine  eyes. 

A  light  unto  my  path. 

How   pleasant  for  men  to   dwell   in 
unity. — Eph.  iv.  3 — 13     . 

Wronging  our  own  soul 

The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed 

There  is  a  lion  without        .        . 

Two  are  better  than  one      .        . 

Do  it  with  thy  might  .         . 

A    poor  wise    man    ,    .    ,    delivered 
the  city    .  ....     159 


250 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects 


Ecclesiastes  xi.  i    ... 

„  xi.  9  ... 

Song  of  Solomon  i.  2 

ii.  15 

Isaiah  ii.  4 


» 
if 


VI.  5  ... 
xi.  6  ... 
xxxiii.  23 
xl.  3  ... 

xl.  31 
xliii.  25 

xlv.  22 


>1 

Iv 

1,2 

»> 

Iv. 

II 

»» 

1X1 

.3... 

»» 

Ixiii.  3 

Jeremiah 

iii.  4 

» 

XX.  9 

»» 

xxxi.  3 

Hosea  ii. 

19... 

Micah 

vii 

.  18 

Zechariah  viii.  5 

Malachi  iii.  17 

Matthew 

V.  3 

» 

vi.  II 

»» 

vi.  13 

» 

vi.  19,  20 

» 

vi.  28 

*) 

viii.  2 

»• 

viii.  20 

IX. 


XIU  II 


Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters 

But  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment 

Kissing  of  the  mouth  . 

The  little  foxes  that  spoil  the  vines 

They   shall    beat    their   swords    into 

plough-shares  .... 
Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King  . 
A  little  child  shall  lead  them 
The  lame  take  the  prey  .  . 
The  desert  a  highway 
Mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  . 
Transgressions      blotted      out      and 

forgotten  .... 

Look  unto  Me   and  be    ye  saved. 

Rom.  i.  17 
Without  money  and  without  price 
My  word  shall  not  return  void    . 
The  oil  of  joy  for  mourning 
Trodden  the  wine-press  alone 
The  guide  of  my  youth 
As   a   burning    lire    shut    up   in    my 

bones       

God's  everlasting  love 

I  will  betroth  thee  unto  Me  for  ever 

A  God  that  pardoneth  iniquity    . 

Boys  and  girls  playing  in  the  streets 

God's  jewels        .... 

Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit 

Our  daily  bread  .... 

Deliver  us  from  evil    . 

Lay  up  .  .  .  treasure   in   Heaven 

Consider  the  lilies 

If  Thou  wilt,  Thou  canst     . 

The  Son   of  man  .  .  .  not  where  to 

lay  His  head 
When  He  saw  the  multitude  He  was 

moved  with  compassion  . 
Sheep  in  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath    • 

251 


PAGE 
196 
129 
116 
197 

198 
201 
199 
199 
200 

79 

39 

221 
70 

23 
127 
200 
132 

153 

22 

29 

202 

98 

15 
203 

65 
90 

156 

203 
136 

204 

147 
205 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects 


Matthew 

xiii.  13,  14 

n 

xvi.  24 

M 

xvi.  24,  25 

W 

xvi.  26 

)} 

xviii.  I,  3  ... 

» 

xviii.  21,  22 

»» 

xix.    13 — 15 

M 

xix.  16 — 24 

f* 

XX.  32,  33... 

•> 

XX.  8,  9     ... 

» 


XXI.  22 


„        xxiii 

.8 

... 

„            XXV. 

18 

... 

„            XXV. 

34- 

-40 

„            XXV. 

36 

... 

„            XXV. 

40 

... 

„            XXV. 

45 

... 

„        XX  vi 

1. 20 — 22 

„        xxvii.  24 

... 

Mark  ii.  27 

•  •• 

»      vii.  37 

•  •• 

„      viii.  36 

•  •• 

„      ix.  38- 

■40 

•  •• 

„    xiv.  4 

•  •• 

„    xiv.  8 

•  •• 

Luke  ii.  7 

•  •• 

„     vi.  29 

•  •• 

„      vi.  38 

•  •• 

„     vii.  34 

•  •• 

„      vii.  37 

•  •• 

„     viii.  18 

♦  •• 

PAGE 

Eyes,  but  they  see  not  .  .  .21 
Take  up  thy  cross  and  follow  Me  •  97 
Let  him  deny  himself. — Luke  vi.  38  .  64 
What    shall    it    profit    a    man  ? — 

Mark  viii.  36 63 

A  little  child  in  the  midst  of  them       .      87 

Forgiveness 14 

There  were  brought  unto  Him  little 

children  .        .        .176 

For  he  had  great  possessions  .  .132 
That  our  eyes  may  be  opened  .  .  41 
Also    xxvii.    20 — 22.     "  Hosannah  !  '* 

and  "  Crucify  Him  ! "       .        .        .75 
Whatsoever  ye  ask,  believing,  ye  shall 

receive 96 

All  ye  are  brethren  ....  205 
Hiding  the  Lord's  talents  ...  76 
Ye  have  done  it  unto  Me  .  •  •  91 
Sick  and  ye  visited  Me  .  •  •  206 
Unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  •  .  207 
Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  .        •        ,    208 

Crucify  Him ! 75 

Pilate  washed  his  hands  .  .  15,  208 
The  Sabbath  made  for  man  •  118,119 
He  doeth  all  things  well  ...  60 
What  shall  it  profit  ?  .  .  .  .63 
One  casting  out  devils  and  we  forbade 

him 

Why  was  this  waste  ? 

She  hath  done  what  she  could    , 

No  room  in  the  inn     . 

Offer  the  other  cheek  . 

Give    and    it    shall    be    given    unto 

you 

Friend  of  publicans  and  sinners  . 

The  alabaster  box 

Whosoever  hath  not  from  him  shall  be 

taken        .«•«•• 


135 
209 

83 

80 

117 

93 
29 

209 

136 


25a 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects 


Luke  ix.  23 


X.  3— 9 

xiii.  34 

XV.  13 

xix.  10 
xix.  14 
xxii.  61 


John  i.  I 
„    iii.  7 


iii.  16  ... 

V.  35  — 
„    V.  40    ... 

vi.  28  ... 

vi.  63  ... 

vii.  9    ... 

viii.  6  ... 
„  viii.  9  ... 
„  viii.  32... 
„  ix.  31  ... 
„  ix.  4  ... 
„  X.  10  ... 
„  X.  10  ... 
„     xi.  25  ... 


t* 


xi.  28  ... 

xi.  44  ... 
xii.  2  ... 
xii.  3  ... 
xii.  21 ... 
xii.  20... 


„  xiv.  6  ... 

„  xiv.  6  ... 

„  xiv.  9  ... 

,,  xiv.  20 


upon 


Let  him  .  .  .  take  up  his  cross  daily 

and  follow  Me . 
Mary  at  Jesus'  feet 
As  a  hen  doth  gather  her  brood 
Wastes    his  substance    with    riotous 

living       .... 
To  save  that  which  was  lost 
Would  not  have  Christ  to  reign 
The   Lord  turned  and  looked 

Peter        .... 
The  Word  was  God    .        , 
Ye  must  be  born  again 
God  so  loved  the  world 
A  burning  and  a  shining  light 
Ye  will  not  come  to  Me 
Working  the  works  of  God. 
The  Spirit  that  quickeneth 
Also  X.  9. — I  am  the  Door  . 
Jesus  .  .  .  wrote  on  the  ground 
Convicted  by  their  own  conscience 
The  truth  shall  make  you  free 
Doers  of  His  will 
Work  while  it  is  day  . 
Life  abounding  through  love 
Come  that  they  might  have  life 
I  am  the  Resurrection. — i  Cor.  xv.  55 

O  death,  where  is  thy  sting.? 
The  Master  calleth  for  thee 
Loose  him,  and  let  him  go. 
The  silence  of  Lazarus 
Mary's  anointing  of  Jesus'  feet. 
We  would  see  Jesus  . 
They  said  it  thundered  ;    others 

angel  spake     .        ,        , 
I  am  the  Way     .        ,        , 
I  am  the  Truth.  .         .        , 
Hast  thou  not  known  Me  ? 
In  Christ  and  Christ  in  us  • 

253 


PAGB 

168 

72 

210 

114 

33 

28 


An 


.      72 

•      70 

.    182 

.    211 

.     212 

.    212 

24 

16,  32 

89j2I3 

144 

72 

213 

125 

115 
62 

214 

216 
217 
117 

69 

72 

215 


216 

182 

35 
217 

23 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subject?, 


John  XIV 

.  27 

„       XV. 

5 

„       XV. 

14,  15       - 

„       XX. 

25 

„     xxi 

.  15 

Acts  xxvi.  19 

,,    xxvi.  27,  28     ... 

Romans 

i-  7 

t» 

i.  17 

f> 

vi.  23 

»» 

vii.  21 — 27 

*> 

viii.  35 

♦> 

viii.  37 

»> 

xi.  22 

»» 

xii.  II 

» 

xii.  21 

j> 

xiii.  8 

I  Corinthians  i.  23,  24 

» 

1.  27,28  ... 

») 

ii.  9 

»» 

vii.  31    ... 

ft 

ix.  24     ... 

it 

xii.  6 

t» 

xii.  14—20 

» 

xiii.  7,8... 

»» 

xiii.  13  ... 

»» 

XV.  55    ... 

*» 

xvi.  23  ... 

2  Corinthians  iii.  18 


Peace  I  leave  with  you;      • 
I  am  the  Vine     .... 
Ye  are  My  friends       .         .         , 
The  print  of  the  nails.  •        • 

Feed  My  lambs  .... 
Not   disobedient  unto    the   heavenly 

vision       ..... 
Almost  persuaded        .         . 
Called  to  be  saints.     . 
The  just  shall  live  by  faith. — Isaiah 

xlv.  22       .         .         .         .         . 
The  wages  of  sin  is  death   . 
The  law  of  God  and  the  law  of  mem 

bers.    Flesh  and  spirit     . 
Who  shall  separate  ?  . 
More  than  conquerors         . 
The  goodness  and  severity  of  God 
Fervent  in  spirit 
But  overcome  evil  with  good      • 
Owe  no  man  anything         .         • 
We  preach  Christ  crucified 
Things  which  are  despised  hath  God 

chosen     

Ear  hath  not  heard     . 

The  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away 

So  run  that  ye  may  obtain.    Hebrews 

xii.  I.     Lay  aside  every  weight 
God  which  worketh  all  in  all 
The   body   is  not   one    member  but 

many 

Charity  never  faileth  .        •        •        • 
Faith,  hope,  and  charity.    .         •        . 
O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 
The  grace  of  our  Lord. — i  John  iii.  2. 

Like  Him  for  we  shall  see  Him  as 

He  is 

Beholding,  as  in  a  glass,  the  glory  of 

the  Lord     •   •   •   •   • 


PAGE 

219 
219 
219 
129 
96 

220 

135 
220 

221 

76 

92 

222 

222 

23 

78 

22^ 

114 

37 

224 

30 
224 

100 

28 

225 

40 

225 

226 


240 
181 


254 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects 


2  Corinthians  V.  14  ... 

>» 

V.  17  ... 

» 

V.  20  ... 

»» 

xii.9, 10 

Galatians  v.  19 — 21 

>» 

V.  22,  23  ... 

Ephesians  ii.  6 

»> 

iii.  II     ... 

f> 

iii.  20    ... 

>» 

iv.  3—13 

>» 

V.  16 

}) 

V.  18      ... 

>» 

vi.  17     ... 

» 

vi.  18      ... 

Philippians  ii.  8,  9  ... 

>i 

ii.  12    ... 

*f 

ii.  17    ... 

ft 

iv.  7     ... 

iv.  8 


♦» 

IV.  II 

l» 

iv.  13 

Colossians 

i.  10 

» 

i.  24 

» 

ii.  14 

J) 

iii.  3 

I  Timothy 

i.  19 

j> 

i.  19 

2  Timothy 

ii-3 

Hebrews  i. 

14 

•>       ii 

9—13 

»,       ii 

10 

„       ii. 

13 

„       xi 

.  10 

141 


XI.  34 


The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us 
If  in  Christ  a  new  creation . 
Ambassadors  for  Christ 
Glory  in  infirmities  for  God 
The  works  of  the  flesh 
The  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
Sit  together  in  heavenly  places 
God's  eternal  purpose 
Able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly 
Unity  of  the  Spirit  and  the  faith 
Redeeming  the  time   .         .        • 
Filled  with  the  Spirit .        .        • 
The  sword  of  the  Spirit       .        , 
Praying  with  perseverance  • 

He  became  obedient  unto  death 
Work  out  your  own  salvation.     . 
Offered  upon  sacrifice  and  service 
The  peace  which  passeth  understand 

ing 

Whatsoever  things  are  true  .  .  .  think 

on  those  things 
Learn  to  be  content    . 
Through  Christ  which  strengtheneth 

me 

Fruitful  in  every  good  work. 

Fill  up  the  afflictions  of  Christ 

Our  sins  nailed  to  the  Cross 

Hid  with  Christ  in  God      .        .     134 

A  good  conscience 

Holding  ...  a  good  conscience 

Endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier 

Ministering     spirits     sent     forth    to 

minister  .... 
Suffering  but  crowned. 
Perfect  through  suffering    . 
I  and  the  children  given  me 
A  city  which  hath  foundations 
Valiant  in  fight  •        •        • 


PAGE 
227 
228 

59 

29 

,  228 

131 

28 

229 

112 

137 
229 

79 

126 

230,  231 

232 


232 

75 

234 

82 

234 

235 

41 

32 

236 

94 

95 

236 

237 

238 

130 

27 

137 
32 


Index  of  Texts  and  Subjects 


Hebrews  xii.  i 

•  •• 

„       xii.  6 

•  •• 

„       xii.  28,  29... 

„       xiii.  2 

•  •• 

James  ii.  14 

•  •• 

„    iii.  5,  6 

•  •• 

„    iv.  4 

•  •• 

„    iv.  6 

••• 

I  Peter  i.  13 

••• 

»      i-  13 

•  •• 

„      V.  8,  9 

•  •• 

2  Peter  iii.  18 

•  •• 

I  John  ii.  I   ... 

•  • 

„      ii.  5  ... 

... 

yy             iii.    2  ... 

•• 

„      iii.  4  ... 

*. 

„      iv.  7 ... 

a. 

„     iv.  7,  8 

... 

„      iv.8... 

..1 

„     iv.  16 

..1 

Revelation   i.  17 

,18 

„          ii.  10  ... 

„           iii.  20  ... 

*t          vii. 

14.. 

„          xxi. 

I     .., 

„          xxi. 

4.. 

„          xxi. 

10.. 

„          xxii 

.2.. 

1           xxii 

4.. 

„          xxii 

•5" 

«          xxii 

.17 

Let  us  lay  aside  every  weight    . 
Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth 

Grace  to  serve  God  acceptably . 
Angels  unawares. — Luke  ii.  7     , 
Faith  and  not  works  .        .        , 
The  tongue  is  a  fire    . 
Friendship  of  the  world  enmity  with 

God  .  .  .  •  « 
God  resisteth  the  proud  .  • 
Hope  to  the  end  .  .  .  < 
Gird  up  the  loins  of  the  mind  « 
Be  vigilant ;  resist  the  devil  « 
Grow  in  grace  .... 
An  advocate  with  the  Father 
Love  perfected  by  keeping  the  word 
Like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as 

He  is 

Sin  the  transgression  of  the  law 
Love  one  another,  for  love  is  of  God 
He  that  loveth  not  knoweth  not  God 
For  God  is  Love 
He  that  dwelleth  in  love,  dwelleth  in 

God         ..... 
Having  the  keys  of  hell  and  death 
Be  thou  faithful  unto  death 
Christ  the  Guest  and  Companion 
Out  of  great  tribulation       .        • 
And  there  was  no  more  sea        • 
No  more  death    .... 
Showed  me  the  New  Jerusalem  . 
River  clear  as  crystal . 
And  they  shall  see  His  face        • 
No  night  there    .        .        •        • 
Whosoever  will  .        •        •        • 


PAGE 

100 

131, 

238 

125 

80 

239 
239 


38 

lOI 

14 
25 

38 

240,  14 

131 

74 

240 
18 

84 
241 

242 

243 

35 

118 

59 

245 

163 

61 

247 
246 

lOI 

246 
136 


256 


INDEX  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


A  Burning  and  Shining  Light,  212. 

A  Good  Conscience,  94. 

A  Lesson  in  the  Sewers,  110, 

A  Lion  in  the  Way,  196. 

A  Little  Child  shall  Lead,  199. 

A  Parable  of  the  Poles,  111. 

A  Pardoning  God,  202. 

Abounding  Grace,  125. 

"Almost"  Born,  135. 

And  he  Died,  185. 

"As      a      Hen      Gathereth    Her 

Chickens,"  210 
Assurance  of  Answered  Prayer,  192. 

Blind  Eyes  and  Eyes  that  See,  21. 
Breezes     from     the    Everlasting 

Hills,  28. 
Brothered  to  Forgive,  14. 
Burdens  Changed  to  Wings,  79. 
•'  But,"  129. 

Captain  Resistance,  38. 
Chivalry,  108. 
Christ  the  Companion,  59. 
Christ's  Legacy  of  Peace,  219. 
Christ's  Parable  of  the  Vineyard, 

62. 
Christ's  Transforming  Kisses,  116. 
Cold-Blooded  Preaching,  133. 
Conscience  Makes  Cowards,  72. 
Could  Not  Say  No  to  God,  227. 

Day      Coldness     and      Midnight 

Warmth,  131. 
Days  of  Transfiguration,  232. 
Discipline  and  Obedience,  187. 
Do  They  Miss  Us?  35. 
Do  Your  Own  Bit  of  Work,  115. 
Dwarf  Christians,  14. 


Eager  Heart,  80. 

Earthly      Pictures      of      Eternal 

Realities,  224. 
Every  Soul  its  Own  Judge,  36. 
Exaltation    through    Abnegation, 

231. 
"  Exceeding  Abundantly,"  229. 
Eyes  that  have    Seen   the  King, 

201. 

Faith,  Hope  and  Love,  225. 

Faithful  Unto  Death,  118. 
Florist's    Catalogue  and    Flower 

Garden,  213. 
Flowers  or  Weeds,  234. 
Following  Christ,  97. 
For  He  had  Great  Possessions,  132. 

Gird  up  the  Loins,  25. 

"  Give  and  it  Shall  be  Given,"  93. 

God  Resisteth  the  Proud,  101. 

"  God  so  Loved,"  211. 

God  Wants  Us,  30. 

God's  Hidden  Treasure,  113. 

God's  Jewels,  16. 

God's  Mysterious  Way,  60. 

God's  Use  of  Worthless  Things, 
224. 

God's  Word  made  Current  Coin, 
136. 

Godliness  before  Gain,  95. 

Good  Soldiers  of  Christ,  236. 

Grace  on  the  Surface,  228. 

Great  Vows  and  Small  Perform- 
ance, 128. 

Green  when  Grey,  137. 

Growth  in  Grace,  240. 


257 


R 


Index  of  Illustrations 


"  He  "Wrote  on  the  Ground,"  144. 
Heaven  seen  from  Earth,  247. 
Hid  with  Christ  in  God,  134,  236. 
"  Hope  Thou  in  God,"  190. 
Hope  to  the  End,  14, 
How    Sunday    Clears  the   Paths, 

118. 
How  Tauler  became   a  Preacher, 

230. 

"lam  the  Door,"  213. 
"  I  and  the  Children,"  27. 
In  Contact  with  Christ,  23. 
» In  the  Morning,"  24(5. 
Iniquities  over  the  Head,  138. 
Into  the  Sunshine,  61. 

John  Brown  and  the  Kedeeming 

Kiss,  78. 
"  Just  Jesus  and  Me,"  219. 

Keep  Out  of  Debt,  114. 

Let's  Pretend,  98. 
Like  Hinds'  Feet,  188. 
Living  but  Dead,  214. 
London  Flowers,  245. 
Love's  "Wastefulness,"  209. 

Man's  Ingratitude,  128. 
Ministering  Angels,  237. 
More  than  Conquerors,  222. 

Near  the  Cross,  37. 

No  "  Independence  "  of  God,  76. 

Nothing  but  Leaves,  208. 

One  Courageous  Man,  116. 
Open  Thou  Mine  Eyes,  194. 
Our  Advocate,  131. 
Our  Daily  Bread,  65. 
"  Out  of  an  Horrible  Pit,"  190. 
Out  of  Gear  with  God  18. 
Overcome  Evil  with  Good,  223. 
Owlish  Inquirers,  135, 


Paper  Flowers  and  Garden  Roses, 

30. 
Peterkin's  Pudding,  64. 
Pilate's  Hand-washing,  208. 
Pray  and  Fight,  127. 
Prevailing  Prayer,  126. 
Prying  into  the  Incomprehensible, 

135. 

Reclaimed  to  Home  Life,  106. 
Rest  in  Sacrifice,  59. 
Returning  after  Many  Days,  196. 
Riches  of  the  Word,  193. 
Roses  and  Garlic,  131. 
Running  to  Obtain,  100. 

Sail  Southwards  1  191. 

Saintship  in  Common  Life,  220. 

Saved  by  Another's  Suffering,  238, 

Sin  and  Conscience,  77. 

Slaves  of  the  Mine,  120. 

Soaring  Prayer,  125. 

Soft-boned  Christians,  23, 

"  Sold  Again,  Satan,"  90. 

Something  Wrong  with  the  Band, 
112. 

"  Some  Use  to  Somebody,"  24. 

Song  of  the  Vineyard,  48. 

Strength  Multiplied  in  Comrade- 
ship, 115. 

Suffering  with  Christ,  41. 

Sunday  as  a  Disinfectant,  119. 

Sunday  Enrichment  of  All  Life, 
119. 

Swords  into  Ploughshares,  198. 

"  Taste  and  See,"  189. 
Treading  the  Winepress  Alone,  200, 
That  Ceaseless  Flow  of  Love,  22. 
The  Angel  of  Mercy  39. 
The  Awakening  of  Conscience,  92. 
The  Blessing  of  the  Humble,  203. 
The  Bridge  of  Brotherliness,  205. 
The  Burnt-offering  and  the  Song, 
69. 


258 


Index  of  Illustrations 


The  Christ  Within,  243. 

The  Contented  Heart,  82. 

The  Cup  of  Solomon,  193. 

The    Danger  and  the  Lighthouse, 

194. 
The  Divine  Mother  Heart,  217. 
The   Dove   that  went  to  Church, 

90. 
The  Dynamic  of  Scripture,  221. 
The  Eagle  in  Captivity,  117. 
The     End     of    the     Unreturned 

Prodigal,  114. 
The  Face  of  Jesus,  101. 
The  Fifth  Commandment,  186 
The  Force  of  Gentleness,  117. 
The  Fruitful  Life,  235. 
The  Glory  of  the  Flower,  203. 
The  Grace  of  Our  Lord,  240. 
The  Heart's  Cry  of  Love,  242. 
The  Heavenly  Vision,  220. 
The  Hero  Cardinal,  96. 
The  Highway  in  the  Heart,  200. 
The  Houses  on  the  Kock  and  on 

the  Sand,  50. 
The  Hunted  Soul,  32. 
The  Influence  of  One  Man,  32. 
The  Juggler's  Offering,  83. 
The  Lame  take  the  Prey,  199. 
The  Lament  of  Jesus,  212. 
The  Little    Foxes  that  Spoil  the 

Vines,  197. 
The  Living  Bible,  16. 
The  Lord  is  My  Strength,  189. 
The  Lord's  Chastenings,  238. 
The  Lord's  Honey,  29. 
The  Loveless  Life  and  the  Life  in 

God,  241. 
The  Lunacy  of  Disunion,  225. 
The  Man  with  the  Stone  Heart,  84. 
"The  Master  Calleth,"  217. 
The  Memory  of  the  Just,  195. 
The  Might  of  Silent  Prayer,  96. 
The  Miner's  Clean  Eyes,  229. 
The  Mother  Heart,  33. 
The  Music  of  Thanksgiving,  127. 


The  New  Creation,  228. 

The  New  Heart,  27. 

The  Offered  Jewel,  136. 

The  Old  Disciple,  132. 

The  One  Door,  89. 

The  Open  Eyes,  41. 

"The  Pilgrim's  Progress"  up   to 

Date,  38. 
The  Poisoned  Wells,  62. 
The  Preacher  in  the  Potato  Patch, 

206. 
The  Prettiest  Hands,  91. 
The  Prince  Hero,  79. 
The  Print  of  the  Wounds,  129. 
The  Process  of  Sin,  14. 
The  Rich  Fool,  50. 
The  River  Clear  as  Crystal,  245. 
The  Saintship  of  Service,  205. 
The  Saving  Power  of  Love,  62. 
The  Shepherd  Psalm,  188. 
The  Shock  of  New  Truth,  216. 
The  Soul's  Looking-glass,  130. 
The  Spirit's  Wooing,  29. 
The  Stain  of  Sin,  15. 
The  Stars  in  the  Puddle,  131. 
The  Temple  in  Paradise,  35. 
The  Thatch  and  the  Moss,  40. 
The  Two  Handles  of  Faith,  136. 
The  Unruly  Member,  239. 
The  Unseen  Results,  23. 
The  Value  of  Rests,  15. 
The  Vanquisher  of  Death,  216 
The  Vine  and  the  Fruit,  219. 
The  Weapons  on  the  Wall,  22. 
The  Wooer  of  Poverty,  204. 
"Through   Christ   Which   Streng- 

theneth  Me,"  234. 


Valiant-for-Truth 
River,  226. 


Crosses       the 


Wasted  Time,  137. 

We  Look  for  a  City,  137. 

"  We  would  See  Jesus,"  215. 

Weakness  Linked  to  Strength,  28, 


259 


Index  of  Illustrations 


Weeds  in  Neglected  Soil,  29. 
"What     hath    God    Wrought?" 

186. 
"  What  Shall  It  Profit  a  Man  ?  " 

«3. 
"  Who  Shall  Jsepaiate  I  "  222. 


"  Work  Out  Your  Own  Salvation," 

232. 
Works  with  Faith,  239. 
Wrestling  Prayer,  186. 

"  Ye  Did  It  Unto  Me,"  207. 


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